The ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bon Bensouda, has denied allegations that the International Criminal Court only targeted African leaders accused of human rights violations and turned a blind eye to perpetrators of  crimes committed in other parts of the world.  

Bensouda, who was talking to a group of West African journalists at the Hague, said the court was not setup to tried African leaders accused of human rights violations.

“It is not that ICC or my office or myself are going to target African leaders; it is too simplistic to say that, and that is disheartening.

“On the contrary, we are doing our obligation. This court was set up to investigate and prosecute crimes where we have jurisdiction. All these States, all the African States that are part of the ICC are also doing their obligation or duty or responsibility by referring cases to the ICC.”

Bensouda added: “If these crimes are committed in your territory and you are part of the ICC, you have to do the first obligation and if you cannot do it and you are part of the ICC, you can refer the situation to us to look at it. All the other situations had been under the request of the African States themselves. So where the justification to the allegation for saying ICC is targeting Africa?”

“It can be very frustrating. We are not saying we should not be criticized or there can’t be a public debate about our work; there should be. It should be based on well-informed decision.

Bensouda said there were people who deliberately spread the false information about the ICC for their own interest adding that people should look at the facts as they are.

“If you really look at the work ICC is doing, my office is looking closely at how those cases got to the ICC. How did they start? You will get to see that it is not the ICC that bring those cases? These cases were actually referred to us by the African States themselves.

“All the cases that we are handling, I have said this several times and I have explained how it started with Uganda, DR Congo, Central African Republic, Mali and all these situations even recently Gabon referred a situation to us and I have looked at it and we told them that it really does not meet our criteria to open investigations.”

Meanwhile, the judges of the ICC on Monday rejected unanimously the request of the ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, to proceed with an investigation that involved U.S forces accused of committing war crimes in Afghanistan. The judges decided that an investigation in the Afghanistan war at this stage would not serve the interest of justice.