Robert Mugabe attacks the ICC
At the ongoing African Union-EU summit in Tripoli, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe reportedly took the ICC to task for only investigating Africa’s leaders. "Why does this court not do the same with Tony Blair and George W. Bush, both of whom occupied Iraq and killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people?" he asked. The ICC has ...
At the ongoing African Union-EU summit in Tripoli, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe reportedly took the ICC to task for only investigating Africa's leaders. "Why does this court not do the same with Tony Blair and George W. Bush, both of whom occupied Iraq and killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people?" he asked. The ICC has been a significant background issue at the summit; Sudan is boycotting the gathering in response to European pressure on the indicted President Bashir not to attend.
At the ongoing African Union-EU summit in Tripoli, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe reportedly took the ICC to task for only investigating Africa’s leaders. "Why does this court not do the same with Tony Blair and George W. Bush, both of whom occupied Iraq and killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi people?" he asked. The ICC has been a significant background issue at the summit; Sudan is boycotting the gathering in response to European pressure on the indicted President Bashir not to attend.
Mugabe no doubt has several motives for attacking the court. First, he can milk the perception that he is fending off a neo-colonial enterprise disguised as international justice. And second, he can launch a preemptive strike against an institution that may, at some point, choose to target Mugabe himself (for an argument that it should, see here).
David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist
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