Three West African countries to leave the UN Top short

Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have announced that they would immediately withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), calling it as a “instrument of neocolonialist repression”.

The three countries led by soldiers have published a joint statement, saying that they would not recognize the authority of the United Nations Superior Court based in The Hague.

“The ICC has proven to be unable to manage and pursue 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 of the three countries, which all have close links with Russia, whose chief Vladimir Putin was submitted to an ICC arrest warrant.

The three states said they wanted to create “indigenous mechanisms for peace and justice consolidation”.

They accused the ICC of targeting less privileged countries, echoing the criticisms of the president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, who previously accused the ICC of having detained an anti-African bias.

The ICC was created in 2002 to legally pursue cases of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and assault.

Of 33 cases launched since its creation, all except one involved an African country.

The withdrawal of a CPI country officially comes into force a year after the notification of the UN.

The forces of the military junta control Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, after the coups in the countries of the Sahel between 2020 and 2023. They constitute the only three members of the Confederation of the States of the Sahel.

Their armies were faced with accusations of crimes against civilians, as violence has increased in the region against jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

In another move coordinated at the start of this year, the three countries withdrew from the regional block, the Economic Community of West African States (Ceceas).

They had rejected Cerceas requests to restore the democratic regime.

Russia has strengthened its links with the three Sahel countries in recent years, which are all increasingly isolated from the West, including the former regional colonial power of France.

In 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.