There is a point where numbers merge with the real and the surreal. Its relevance and impact seem abstract and incomprehensible.
One million displaced since August 2008, 5 million killed over the past years. 300,000 women and girls raped and brutalized. 17,000 UN soldiers, the UN’s largest peacekeeping mission. And yet after all this suffering, only four will stand trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Of those four, only one is currently under prosecution. A first for the ICC.
It is the DR Congo, that interminable conflict and conflicts whose history is rooted in King Leopold’s “humanitarian” exploits and slavery to thirty years of Mobutu’s kleptocracy and the west’s lust for primary resources. For those interested, I recommend Adam Hochschild’s King Leopold’s Ghost, a haunting narration of human misery and madness.
In 1897, writes Hochschild, a British shipping-company employee Edward Morel realized a grave injustice. Boats from the Congo, packed with ivory and rubber, were unloaded at Antwerp and then stuffed with weapons for the return.
“I have stood on that quay in Antwerp and seen the rubber disgorged from the bowels of the incoming steamer. To my fancy there was mingled with the sound of musical chimes of the old cathedral tower another sound , a sigh breathed in the gloomy Equatorial forest by those from whose anguish this wealth was wrung.’
It is an astonishing image and an astonishing remark, just as true today as it was then.
In a letter from my friend and Congolese journalist Faustin Chongombe (which I posted here), he describes the humiliation he feels as his fellow country men queue for biscuits. Behind them, the lush green verdure of Congo’s fertile country wracked with the sound of intermittent gunfire.
Meanwhile, Thomas Lubanga, former leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots, is finally standing trial at the Hague. Dressed in a smart suit and tie, he claims to have fought for the greater good of his people, to protect the resources in the Ituri region from greed.
He then “recruited” hundreds of children to fight his cause. This was in 2003. Arrested six years ago, Lubanaga’s trial date is testimony to the long drawn out legal battles that plague the court and its lack of explicit international support.
The ICC needs greater mobility and a stronger mandate. It has no police force. It depends on the “good” will of participating countries for funding, investigations, and intelligence writes Nick Grono , deputy-president of the International Crisis Group. Its hands are tied. Notice how the ICC won’t prosecute the “elected” ruling elite of present-day DRC, only its warlords and rebels.
Lubanga’s trial will further test the court’s already weakened position. Hopefully, justice will prevail. Hopefully, there will be an end to this madness.
2 Comments So Far»
“ICC Justice to date has so far only ever been applied to the defeated politicians or military commanders in Africa”, In my view the ICC does not play a positive role in reducing conflict or developing civil society in African States which have suffered internal conflicts.
Take one example in Uganda, where there has been a long history of insurgency by the Lords Resistance Army, there was previously discussions ongoing between the Ugandan Government and the LRA which could have led to a truce and even to long term peace, but, then the ICC decided to arraign Joseph Kony, the de facto leader of the LRA and therefore the LRA stopped talking because there was no longer a way out of the conflict, from then on the LRA had nothing to lose by continuing the conflict.
The ability of the Ugandan Government to resolve their own affairs and to negotiate a settlement of the conflict without a military solution was taken from them by the ICC at the stroke of a pen. As a result of this situation the Conflict between the Ugandan Government and the LRA has continued to cost the lives of innocent Ugandans and the conflict has moved over the border into the DRC where it will cost the lives of inncocent Congolese.
The effect of the ICC actions is also often to prevent post conflict societies from developing pluralistic civil institutions by removing key players they create an imbalance within these developing democracies.
Take another example, following the highly contested 2006 presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo which were won by Joseph Kabila, the main opposition candidate was Jean Pierre Bemba, after the election the state security forces ruthlessly suppressed the political opposition as has been documented in the Human Rights Report ‘We will crush you’.
As opposition politicians and activists were fleeing the country to escape death or prison at the hands of the State security forces why did the ICC decide to arraign Jean Pierre Bemba so that he was then discredited and he was removed as a figurehead from the political scene in Kinshasa , leaving Kabila free to remove or intimidate thye remaining opposition.
You may think that I am cynical but i do suspect that there may be an imperialist agenda behind the ICC's actions and that while it's actions currently very focused on Africa it does appear to be creating barriers to unity and co-operation between African states by undermining their ability to resolve their own affairs.
My final example is the decision to arraign President Bashir of Sudan over the human rights abuses of minority communities which may have been committed in the Darfur region of Sudan, this decision is not going to give the Kharthoum Government or any
of the parties to this conflict or the neighboring state Governments any room to manoeuevre and compromise in order to reach a peaceful solution to this conflict.
Dear Nigel,
I understand you point about the ICC. I’m not sure I would call it imperialism but I do believe there is a deep rooted sense of paternalism which ignores some of the finer details.
The ICC is also so wrapped up in protocols and regulations. It borders on the absurd. Last year Lubanga was almost acquitted on a technicality. I also believe this extreme rationalization of the human condition within some of these institutions is to blame. Max Weber wrote about how bureaucracy can trap individuals in a vicious cycle in his work the Iron Cage. Common sense and compassion are simply swept aside.
Best,
Nikolaj
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