The Monitor
Journal of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court
Issue 36: May - October 2008

http://www.iccnow.org/documents/Monitor36_final.pdf

Your interview with Beatrice Le Fraper Du Hellen brings to the fore an unresolved matter. The absence of a cooperation agreement between the ICC and the African Union (AU) is sidelining justice for the many victims in Africa. The game playing by the AU to avoid concluding an agreement
is nothing more than a slap in the face to the many African victims who want justice now. From Darfur to the DRC to northern Uganda, victims are yearning for an answer; is the AU’s political expedience more important than justice denied?

Here in Africa, we think not. African countries are one of the largest geographical blocks to have ratified the Rome Statute. One hopes the new leadership at the African Union will realize this and sign the cooperation agreement in acknowledgment of the good faith Africans already have in
this Court.

Dismas Nkunda
Chair Darfur Consortium and co-director,
International Refugee Rights Initiative
Kampala, Uganda