BBC News: Is this the end for the International Criminal Court?

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The threatened departure of one of the founding fathers of the world's first permanent war crimes court feels like Africa's Brexit moment.
South Africa has formally begun the process of withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC), notifying the UN of its decision. The government concluded that membership of the ICC created a conflict with its role as a regional peace broker.
It looks like the news came as a surprise to the UN secretary general. "We didn't see this coming" said a source close to Ban Ki-moon. "The UN Secretary General was totally shocked".
But perhaps the UN should have seen this coming.
'Hypocrisy' Significant numbers of people across Africa appear to be tired of what they see as the court's bias, with the vast majority of cases coming from this part of the world.
Earlier this year the African Union threw its weight behind a proposal to leave the ICC. Then Burundi - itself the subject of a so-called preliminary examination by the ICC for alleged post-election violence in 2015 - fired its opening salvo.
It became the first state to announce it was leaving the court.
Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former ICC chief prosecutor, pinpoints the moment when attitudes changed:
"I remember South Africa as a champion, it was leading the continent under Mandela and Mbeki... under President Zuma, it's different," he told the BBC. "Who will stand for the African victims when leaders conduct massive atrocities to stay in power? Who will prevent Burundi from slipping into genocide? We're slipping backwards".
He accused many leaders on this continent of "hypocrisy" - claiming that publicly they vilify the ICC to appease their African Union allies, while privately supporting its ideals.
'I'm the judge' Yet some of the most respected African legal minds are themselves uncomfortable with its inherent contradictions. Not least the fact that the US refuses to become a member or be bound by its rules.
"Some of the world leaders are part of the judging but they're not bound by it. "It's like saying: 'I'll be the judge but me and my children will not be bound by it.' It creates a very unhealthy dynamic," argues Thuli Madonsela, South Africa's former anti-corruption chief.
Yet despite its shortcomings, like many others Ms Madonsela is sceptical about wholesale withdrawal. "Better to have an imperfect court than none at all. It's like saying because we don't catch all the criminals we shouldn't hold trials."
Nevertheless there is widespread expectation that other countries may soon leave.
Kenya could be poised to throw in the towel, after a sustained campaign to paint the court as a "neo-colonialist" institution and the subsequent collapse of cases against President Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto.
How Kenyatta led Africa's opposition to the ICC The African onslaught against the ICC was started by Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2013 when he said the court was "race hunting" on behalf of its benefactors and being used as a tool to oppress Africans.
He was speaking at a special African Union summit called to discuss a mass withdrawal from the ICC.
Both Mr Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto were charged by the ICC in connection with post-election violence in 2007-08 - charges that were later dropped.
Mr Kenyatta called the court a "farcical pantomime" which was no longer a home of justice.
He criticised the US and EU for arm-twisting African countries to submit to the court's will.
"Africa is not a third-rate territory of second-class peoples. We are not a project, or experiment of outsiders," he said. He called for unity and a focus on "African solutions to African problems". -Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-37750978
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