This video (left) of Gbagbo landing and being escorted to jail at the Hague gives many Ivorians a sense of miscarriage of justice. Those that really care about justice note that his opponent in cohort with western allies leading up to the Ivorian crisis has up till now gotten away with murder. Ouattara is yet to be accountable for the same atrocities Gbagbo is being prosecuted for during the course of the Ivorian war.
One lesson to be learned here is that, the institutions we have in Africa are either broken or too weak to effect the rule of law and justice its people need. For long, Africans have frowned upon sending African leaders to the ICC due to what many including my humble self consider “selective justice”. Our issue with ICC is that, you have Western leaders like George Bush, Tony Blair, Natanyahu etc. who have murdered and committed more crimes against humanity based on packs of lies than all the African leaders currently being prosecuted at the ICC combined. Yet, the ICC continues to look the other way every time it comes to prosecuting their Western leaders. I do understand that the U.S is not a party to the Rome Statute. However, the ICC has jurisdiction to prosecute leaders like Bush for crimes carried out in states that are party to the Rome Statute, hence an arrest Warrant for the Texan cowboy is not beyond them.
The jurisdiction where justice is meted out to criminal African leaders is not a big issue, and I bet most Africans will not hold water for any of the leaders currently at the Hague. However, given our history with the West, it comes natural for Africans to show discontent when a western system that is meant to police the world is only/mostly applicable to Africans.
African Solution to African Problems: If anything, we can also say Africa continues to bring these kinds of problems upon itself. Due to the lack of foresight, vision and utter selfishness of our leaders, we have failed in building strong institutions that will make sure ICC’s Campo does not set another foot in Africa with an arrest warrant in hand. A classic example is that of Chad’s ex-president Habre. Mr. Habre‘s case trying him for crimes against humanity continues to stall in African courts 20 years after calls for his prosecution in Dakar. Time and time again, we’ve heard African leaders call for an African solution to an African problem, but when presented with an African problem such as Habre's, our leaders just continue to prove incompetent.
Personally, I don't blame the West, as their mission in Africa will not be accomplished without the African component. African leaders continue to be willing participants in these western imperialists shenanigans at the expense of their people. The only solution is that the Arab spring continues to march in on African soil and we continue to rid ourselves of dictators and puppet presidents who double as overseers of the exploitation of African wealth by foreigners.
Great read Matarr! Few questions I would like to get your opinion on...now that Ouattara is the president of Cote D'Ivoire...do you think that his ties with the IMF & Central Bank.. will hinder his judgment for the betterment of his people? (Simmilar to the US fed reserve/treasury sec having ties with Goldman Sachs)and do you think that the lack of African countries having an "arab spring" is due to a lack of awareness spread across its population? The young generation of arabs were very aware of what was going on around them despite possible lack of support for older generations because they just accepted how it was. I feel that alot of older generation Africans never have the feeling to spark change just an acceptance of the way things are. (Unless they are fighting for power & control)
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I expect Ouattara to continue to respect the colonial pact Ivory Coast signed with France when France granted them independence. The pact basically gives derogation of most Ivorian national powers to France. Gbagbo's problem started when he started to preach nationalism and tried to do away with the colonial pact for what he said was pure robbery of Ivorians from the West.
ReplyDeleteConsidering, Ivory Coast before the war was the most developed country in West Africa, as the french are unlike the British; they will exploit but will also build something. Take Ouatarra as one of the puppets I mentioned above, but also take him as someone who understands how government works. He's been successfully involved with running the affairs of ivory coast as prime minister since the first republic and continued with development initiatives in Africa with the world bank after he was barred from running for president . I think he will bring the management skills that Gbagbo lacked and that can only be good for his people. I expect him to cont. policies that made Ivory Coast thrive economically during the first republic, but like his mentor Houphet Boigny, he won't get in the way of the west solely for the betterment of his people. Ouattara will continue to speak for the Ivorian people but serve the power (interest of the West).
Arab spring? Will you accept that the weather in West Africa does not include spring? You are right, we are totally different from the Arabs but there are good signs in places like Senegal where the population have developed a level of political consciousness that allows them to take on their govts. on policies that are not in their interest.