05.10.12 - RWANDA/DRC - ICC IS FOR AFRICANS, KAGAME CLAIMS

Arusha, October 5, 2012 (FH) – Rwandan President Paul Kagame Thursday claimed that the International Criminal Court (ICC) mandated to try genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity was a political stick created for beating Africans.

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“They call it international, but it’s really for Africans. Africans are not necessarily those who have done wrong, those who have disobeyed them,” the President said in Kigali when launching the country’s 2012-2013 Judicial Year.

Kagame denounced “the law of the jungle”, saying that the persecution of people even at international level was just unbecoming.

“They tell us; ooh they are going to punish people who are involved in the recruitment of child soldiers. They don’t pursue those who kill children,” he said.

“There are people who kill, who rape, who do everything. They just keep quiet about it because maybe that is how Africans should be,” Kagame added.

The President also pointed out on the ongoing crises in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), saying that the Congolese government and the international community should bear blames and not Rwanda.

Some Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) had asked Rwanda to support the arrest General Bosco Ntaganda, who is wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity and war crimes. But Kagame has always claimed that his country has nothing to do with that.

FK/NI