Partners in Crime
by paco on 04 Jul 2009 | Comments
It is truly a sad day for Africa when two dictators can set an agenda for the continent that perpetuates the culture of impunity. The decision was announced at the African Union summit yesterday to ignore the International Criminal Court warrant issued for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, is without question a setback for the ICC, but an even greater setback for Africa as a continent and for the millions of victims of the conflicts that have raged through the continent for so many years. This decision to condone impunity will eventually backfire on the dictators that promoted it, Gaddafi and Bashir, but in the meantime the victims must continue to suffer and watch as the perpetrators of their tragedy emerge jubilant from behind the closed doors of the AU summit, having won a round for impunity. But justice will eventually prevail, for as Dr. Martin Luther King said “the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice”, and it will be all the faster if the international community musters the political will to stand up for the rule of law and the responsibility to protect the global family of humankind.
Libyan leader and African Union Chairman, Muammar Gaddafi, with President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan (photo: Sudan Tribune)