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The ICC and Africa

The complex and contentious relationship between the ICC and African states, from early cooperation to accusations of bias.

Early Cooperation

Africa was initially the ICC's strongest supporter. African states were crucial to the Rome Statute's adoption, and 33 African countries are parties. The first four investigations were all self-referrals by African governments: Uganda, DRC, Central African Republic, and Mali. These referrals were acts of cooperation, not targets of Western justice. African states saw the ICC as a tool to address impunity that their own justice systems could not handle.

The relationship began to sour with the 2009 arrest warrant for Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir. The African Union argued that sitting heads of state have immunity under customary international law and that the warrant undermined peace negotiations in Darfur. The AU passed resolutions calling on African states not to cooperate with the ICC on the Bashir warrant, creating a direct conflict between AU and ICC obligations for African states parties.