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N’DJAMENA, Chad (AFP) — Chad announced on Monday it planned to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying its effectiveness was “limited and uneven” with a focus on Africa.
It follows Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, who in September jointly announced they were pulling out of the ICC, which prosecutes individuals for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Chad’s decision follows “an in-depth review of the functioning of the International Criminal Court since it began operating in 2002, as well as its record whose effectiveness remains limited and uneven”, a government spokesman said in a statement.
It also condemned what it said was a concentration of the ICC’s activities on African countries.
Out of the 13 investigations opened by the court since it came into force, nine concern African states, as opposed to four opened in other regions of the world “but without any concrete progress,” the Chadian government said.
“The court has only seven people in custody, six of whom are being prosecuted in African situations,” it added.
According to a statement on the foreign minister’s official website last week, the decision to quit the ICC follows a request by the United States, which has called for the dismantling of the court and issued sanctions against people associated with it.
It said the U.S. deputy secretary of state for African affairs had pressed the Chadian government to reconsider its ICC membership during a telephone call on Thursday.
“The American side expressed its concerns about the functioning of this institution and called on Chad to review its accession to the Rome Statute,” a statement said.
The decision comes amid allegations by national and international organizations of Chad’s suspected involvement in the conflict in neighboring Sudan.
Burkina, Mali and Niger — all Sahelian countries in west Africa that are all ruled by military governments — called the court an “instrument of neo-colonial repression in the hands of imperialism.”
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By Agence France-Presse
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