{UAH} KASESE MASSACRE & ICC INVESTIGATION.

As I advocated for in my statement on the recent Rwenzori massacre, an international investigation on last November's deaths would definitely be a welcome development. The 27/11 horror is exactly the kind of disturbing event that the International Criminal Court was created to investigate and prosecute.
With a tense situation today in Gambia, and more worryingly, the unfolding genocide in South Sudan, all soberly-thinking Africans now realize that the helpless African people need the global deterrent mechanism more than they dislike it. The Oromo people in Ethiopia are not getting any help from those who want Africa out of the Rome statute. Neither are those poor peasants who are being hacked to death by ADF rebels in Beni, DR Congo.
Many argue that the only thing preventing a systematic and state-inspired mass murder in Burundi is the threat of being dragged to the ICC. The reason they suddenly seek to quit the Rome Statute as well.
I would urge Nigeria to disregard any calls against the pursuit of globalized justice and instead support it by formally filing a case against Boko Haram and its leader at The Hague. So should Iraq pursue Al Baghdadi and his ISIS terrorist group with the court.
Rather than close our options ourselves and thereby face wanton abuse, grisly deaths and unfettered impunity, Africa needs to maintain all available channels that build peace and justice on the continent.
For the foreseeable future no Ugandan will venture into ordering another Rwenzori-like massacre if the court publicly takes on this matter. It helps if we all understand that there could be grave judicial consequences for any perpetrators.
I for example would be glad to see an African branch of the International Court permanently based in Uganda. When I first mentioned that some weeks back, many thought I was joking. Yet it is an important suggestion that possibly deserves serious consideration.
In the end, the otherwise easily solvable discrimination issues we might have with the court are petty in comparison to the unfathomably gruesome deaths we saw in Kasese last month. And the International Criminal Court, by its mere existence, is still helping improve our own governance and therefore making our continent a better place for every single African, plus the guests and friends of our beloved home continent.

By Hussein Lumumba Amin
04/01/2017

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