Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, all members of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), declared Monday their intention to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), denouncing it as a “neo-colonial instrument of repression.”
In a joint statement, the three military-led governments, which came to power through coups between 2020 and 2023, said the court based in The Hague had “proven itself incapable of handling and prosecuting proven war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes of genocide, and crimes of aggression.” The juntas argued that they would instead establish “indigenous mechanisms for the consolidation of peace and justice.”
Withdrawal from the ICC takes effect one year after a state formally submits its decision to the UN General Secretariat.
The announcement reflects the AES states’ deepening break from Western partners, particularly France, and their growing alignment with other powers such as Russia, whose president Vladimir Putin has been under an ICC arrest warrant since March 2023 over the war in Ukraine.
All three Sahelian nations face ongoing jihadist violence linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, while their armies have also been accused of abuses against civilians.
Established in 2002, the ICC was designed to prosecute the perpetrators of the world’s gravest crimes when national systems fail to do so.
(Source: France 24 with AFP)