Three West African countries to quit UN top court

Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have announced they will immediately withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), labelling it an “instrument of neo-colonialist repression”.

The three military-led countries issued a joint statement, saying they would not recognise the authority of the United Nations’ top court, based in The Hague.

“The ICC has proven itself incapable of handling and prosecuting proven war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes of genocide, and crimes of aggression,” the three leaders said.

The court has not yet responded to the decision by the three countries, all of which with close ties to Russia whose leader Vladimir Putin has been subject to an ICC arrest warrant.

The three states said they wanted to set up “indigenous mechanisms for the consolidation of peace and justice”.

They accused the ICC of targeting less privileged countries, echoing criticism from Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame who has previously accused the ICC of holding an anti-African bias.

The ICC was set up in 2002 to legally pursue cases of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression.

Out of 33 cases launched since its inception, all but one involved an African country.

A country’s withdrawal from the ICC officially takes effect one year after the UN is notified.

Military junta forces are in control of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, following coups in the Sahel countries between 2020 and 2023. They make up the only three members of the Confederation of Sahel States.

Their armies have faced accusations of crimes against civilians, as violence has escalated in the region against jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

In another coordinated move earlier this year, all three countries simulatenously withdrew from the regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas).

They had rejected Ecowas’ demands for them to restore democratic rule.

Russia has strengthened its ties with the three Sahel countries over recent years, which have all become increasingly isolated from the West, notably the former regional colonial power France.

In 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes in Ukraine.