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Somalia truck bomb death toll rises to 276

 

Desperate Somalis searched for news of missing loved-ones on Monday, after a massive truck bomb in Mogadishu killed at least 276 people and left 300 injured in the deadliest ever attack to hit the conflict-torn nation.

Residents of the Somali capital, while wearily accustomed to regular bombs and attacks by Islamist militants, have been left stunned by the monster explosion Saturday which gutted surrounding buildings and left victims burned beyond recognition.

A statement from the information ministry on Monday said “276 people were killed in the blast… and 300 wounded were admitted at the different hospitals in Mogadishu.”

The government said it had set up an emergency committee to help relatives find the missing, with a crisis centre in the capital that residents can turn to.

Police official Ibrahim Mohamed told AFP that many of the victims were “burned beyond recognition” in what he described as “the deadliest attack ever.”

Turkey sent a military plane full of medical supplies to Mogadishu on Monday, also evacuating some of the injured for treatment.

The blast occurred at a junction in Hodan, a bustling commercial district which has many shops, hotels and businesses in the city’s northwest. Several experts told AFP the truck was probably carrying at least 500 kilogrammes (1,100 pounds) of explosives.

Abdulahi Nuradin was one of many helping friends and family hunting for news of the missing.

“It has been more than 24 hours now and we don’t have any traces or information about the sister of my friend. We can assume she is dead, with her flesh somewhere amongst the horribly burned dead bodies,” he told AFP.

“We went to several hospitals to seek any information but no to avail, the family is now 99 percent convinced she is dead, I saw so many severed pieces of human flesh at the hospitals, you cannot even look at them,” he added.

– ‘Devastation beyond imagination’ –

Local government official Muhidin Ali said more than 100 bodies who were impossible to identify had already been buried.

“The gruesome dead bodies were displayed at the hospitals for relatives but a few were recognised and most of them not at all, the devastation is something beyond the imagination of humankind,” he said.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Shabaab, a militant group aligned with Al-Qaeda, carries out regular suicide bombings in Mogadishu in its bid to overthrow Somalia’s internationally-backed government.

The group has a history of not claiming attacks whose scale provokes massive public outrage.

The previous deadliest assault took place in October 2011, when a truck bomb targeting a government office left 82 dead and 150 injured.

Saturday’s blast, the worst in Somalia’s history, came six years after Shabaab militants were pushed out of Mogadishu by African Union and Somali troops.

While they were also pushed out of major towns across southern Somalia the militants still control rural areas and launch attacks on military, government and civilian targets in Somalia, as well as terrorist raids in neighbouring Kenya.

According to the Nairobi-based Sahan thinktank, at least 723 people were killed and over 1,000 injured in bomb attacks in 2016 in Somalia.

News

Victims to lose out as Burundi set to leave…

On 27 October 2017, Burundi will become the first country to withdraw from the Rome Statute (RS) of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The state’s imminent withdrawal from the ICC raises questions for the ICC’s existing preliminary examination (PE) of the situation in the country since April 2016.

The ICC Office of the Prosecutor’s (OTP) PE in Burundi—considered to be at the subject-matter determination phase (Phase 2) at the time of the OTP’s last PE report (14 November 2016)—has been looking into alleged RS crimes including killings, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, torture, and sexual violence committed in the country since April 2015.

“In one week, the decision to withdraw Burundi from the Rome Statute will come into effect. This comes at a time when the machine continues to kill with impunity in Burundi. Today, Burundian justice, as it is so-called, has lost contact with life. It has become a mere tool of repression of any dissenting voice the powerful and the party in power CNDD FDD,” said the Burundi Coalition for the ICC.

 

SOURCE; Coalition for the International Criminal Court

Press Releases

NCICC CONDEMNS THE SECRET TRIAL OF BOKO HARAM SUSPECTS…

 

Press release:  17th  October 2017

 

The Nigerian Coalition for the International Criminal Court (NCICC) expresses deep concern at the ongoing mass trial of the Boko Haram suspects.

Over 1600 Boko Haram suspects are being detained in Niger state and SECRET trial is going on.

We commend the Attorney General of the Federation for taking the initiative to ensure that justice is served to the many victims of gross human rights abuses and severe crimes alleged to have been committed by the Boko Haram sect.

However, it is pertinent that due process is followed in the course of administering justice. Section 36 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended provides for fair trial for all Nigerian citizens.  Public hearing is a yardstick for free and fair trial which forms a fundamental principle of Natural justice so it is quite disturbing that the trial of the Boko Haram suspect is being done privately.

NCICC maintains that accelerated/secret hearing in criminal matters of this nature is not advisable as it may present a glitch in the administration of justice. Suspects must be afforded the opportunity to be represented by a legal practitioner of their choice and lawyers must be given reasonable time to prepare their defense. It is important that all the antecedents of criminal trials be upheld as they are mere suspects and have to be proven guilty or otherwise.

NCICC call on Judges, prosecutors and defence lawyers to get involved in the prosecution of the suspects.  Lawyers should be given adequate time and facilities to prepare for and ensure fair trial of the suspects.

NCICC Calls on the Attorney General of the  Federation to ensure open trials and adequate protection of witnesses, we urge the judiciary to designate more judges and assign these cases to them. There is no way four judges can do justice to 1600 cases. It will take them a decade to do so.

Finally we appeal to the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to provide more pro bono defence counsel because the Legal Aid Council is so thinly staffed and poorly funded to be able to give quality legal defence to 1600 defendants.

Chino Obiagwu

Chair, Steering Committee

 

 

News

Saraki calls for international conference on North East, Boko…

The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, has called for an international conference on North East and Boko Haram threat in Nigeria.

He made the call during General Debate at the 137 Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly on Sunday at St. Petersburg, Russia.

 

According to him, convening an international conference like the one convened in London on Somalia and Syria will go a long way in finding a lasting solution to the problem in the region.

He added that “Nigeria’s North East region has suffered terribly as a result of the onslaught of Boko Haram insurgents.

“Two million Nigerians are internally displaced or have fled to neighbouring countries like the Lake Chad region, where 4.4 million people are threatened by food insecurity.

“Of the fund needed to address the problem, less than half has been raised. The UN has described the situation in the Lake Chad region as the most neglected humanitarian crisis in the world.

“The 8th National Assembly is at the forefront of improved coordination efforts to overcome institutional and logistic impediments in the way of getting aid for those in need.

“We have reached an advanced stage in plans for a development commission to tackle the crisis in the North East; incidentally, the region has the highest poverty rate in the country.

“We have also made economic growth and greater investment the core of our legislative agenda.

“The sooner we deliver economic reforms and greater prosperity to all Nigerians, the sooner we can achieve more inclusive society and minimise societal divisions and grievances.”

Saraki further pointed out the need for government to attend to challenges in other parts of the country for sustainable peace.

According to him, Plateau in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria has been faced with ethnic and religious conflicts, with more than 7,000 people killed in the last decade.

He said that the challenge of climate change led to shrinking of the Lake Chad, which could no longer sustain thousands of displaced persons camped along its receding banks, especially in the North of Nigeria.

He emphasized among other things, the need to tackle youth unemployment, poverty, religious intolerance and marginalisation, which were major factors of restiveness in the country.

He added that “the National Assembly believes that inter-faith dialogue, especially that driven by women and the media, can support the role of passing the message of religious tolerance among the younger generation.

“This is because of their influential roles in the social-cultural fabric of the society.

“We also cannot overemphasise the special role education has to play in overcoming prejudices and uprooting stereotypes, promoting inter-denominational services, as well as cultivating and promoting shared values.

“Parliamentarians can champion the IPU’s core values of equality, inclusiveness, respect, integrity and solidarity as necessary tools for bringing about peace through cultural pluralism.

“I urge us to adopt the Tirana Summit Declaration of 2004 for a world in which religious faiths will not only co-exist peacefully but work actively to promote a sense of social cohesion and collective purpose.”

On the theme of the 137th IPU — “Promoting Cultural Pluralism and Peace Through Interfaith and Inter-Ethnic Dialogue” — Saraki said it was timely in view of the need to seek an alternative to war in resolving conflicts across the globe.

He said the ethnic divide and religious antagonism across the world had opened up new theatres of conflicts leading to a heightened humanitarian crisis; “and something urgent must be done.’’

He added that “according to the UN, 20 million people are at risk of famine in countries like Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.

“140 million people in 37 countries are in need of aid; and earlier this year in the Dhaka Declaration, the 136th IPU Assembly called attention to food insecurity in Yemen, Afghanistan and parts of Africa.

“Indeed, as the IPU President rightly observed, we are entering the age of famine.”

Saraki expressed concern over increased cases of hate speeches directed at those who were considered to be different in culture, tradition and religion

 

President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki

The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, has called for an international conference on North East and Boko Haram threat in Nigeria.

He made the call during General Debate at the 137 Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly on Sunday at St. Petersburg, Russia.

Saraki, who lamented the havoc caused by insecurity in the region, said while Nigerian government was doing its best to tackle the problem, international interventions were necessary.

According to him, convening an international conference like the one convened in London on Somalia and Syria will go a long way in finding a lasting solution to the problem in the region.

He added that “Nigeria’s North East region has suffered terribly as a result of the onslaught of Boko Haram insurgents.

“Two million Nigerians are internally displaced or have fled to neighbouring countries like the Lake Chad region, where 4.4 million people are threatened by food insecurity.

“Of the fund needed to address the problem, less than half has been raised. The UN has described the situation in the Lake Chad region as the most neglected humanitarian crisis in the world.

“The 8th National Assembly is at the forefront of improved coordination efforts to overcome institutional and logistic impediments in the way of getting aid for those in need.

“We have reached an advanced stage in plans for a development commission to tackle the crisis in the North East; incidentally, the region has the highest poverty rate in the country.

“We have also made economic growth and greater investment the core of our legislative agenda.

“The sooner we deliver economic reforms and greater prosperity to all Nigerians, the sooner we can achieve more inclusive society and minimise societal divisions and grievances.”

Saraki further pointed out the need for government to attend to challenges in other parts of the country for sustainable peace.

According to him, Plateau in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria has been faced with ethnic and religious conflicts, with more than 7,000 people killed in the last decade.

He said that the challenge of climate change led to shrinking of the Lake Chad, which could no longer sustain thousands of displaced persons camped along its receding banks, especially in the North of Nigeria.

He emphasised among other things, the need to tackle youth unemployment, poverty, religious intolerance and marginalisation, which were major factors of restiveness in the country.

He added that “the National Assembly believes that inter-faith dialogue, especially that driven by women and the media, can support the role of passing the message of religious tolerance among the younger generation.

“This is because of their influential roles in the social-cultural fabric of the society.

“We also cannot overemphasise the special role education has to play in overcoming prejudices and uprooting stereotypes, promoting inter-denominational services, as well as cultivating and promoting shared values.

“Parliamentarians can champion the IPU’s core values of equality, inclusiveness, respect, integrity and solidarity as necessary tools for bringing about peace through cultural pluralism.

“I urge us to adopt the Tirana Summit Declaration of 2004 for a world in which religious faiths will not only co-exist peacefully but work actively to promote a sense of social cohesion and collective purpose.”

On the theme of the 137th IPU — “Promoting Cultural Pluralism and Peace Through Interfaith and Inter-Ethnic Dialogue” — Saraki said it was timely in view of the need to seek an alternative to war in resolving conflicts across the globe.

He said the ethnic divide and religious antagonism across the world had opened up new theatres of conflicts leading to a heightened humanitarian crisis; “and something urgent must be done.’’

He added that “according to the UN, 20 million people are at risk of famine in countries like Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.

“140 million people in 37 countries are in need of aid; and earlier this year in the Dhaka Declaration, the 136th IPU Assembly called attention to food insecurity in Yemen, Afghanistan and parts of Africa.

“Indeed, as the IPU President rightly observed, we are entering the age of famine.”

Saraki expressed concern over increased cases of hate speeches directed at those who were considered to be different in culture, tradition and religion.

He said there were rising inter-ethnic clashes with many recorded fatalities and communities displaced.

He added that the diverse cultural, traditional and religious practice across Africa that ought to be its source of strength had turned out to be a threat to its existence.

According to him, the situation has led to bloodletting, like the case of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

He added that Nigeria had also experienced a civil war and lately experiencing the increased spate of hate speeches and ethnic conflicts, which was threatening the unity of the country.

“2017 has been a year of unremitting woes. There is no part of the world that is untouched by trouble and strife, conflicts created by apparent failure in all spheres to achieve peaceful co-existence.

“In the U.S., white supremacists engage in pitched battles with anti-fascist and `Black Lives Matter’ protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia.

“The country has been boiling since then as the fault lines widen between the various segments of American society, giving vent to long-simmering tensions.

“In Spain, the reverberations of the Catalan independence referendum are being felt. Or is it the sporadic bursts of xenophobic violence in South Africa?.

“We will also not forget the election-related unrest in Kenya, fractured along ethnic lines between the Luos and the Kikuyus.

“We also see again and again the consequences of gaps in mutual understanding within communities.

“In Myanmar, tensions between the Buddhist majority and the Muslim Rohingya sent a wave of human misery flowing to the border of Bangladesh,’’ he said.

Saraki, however, expressed optimism that the 137th IPU would offer lasting solution to the growing world conflicts.

NCICC Blog

Chad withdraws troops from fight against Boko Haram in…

Chad has withdrawn hundreds of troops from neighbouring Niger, where they were helping local forces fight Boko Haram Islamist militants, humanitarian sources and officials said.

The pull-out over the past two weeks could weaken a region-wide struggle against the militants who have killed tens of thousands of people, forced many more to flee and triggered a humanitarian crisis.

There was no immediate explanation or comment from defence officials in Chad.

The move came a month after the vast central African country complained about an unexpected U.S. travel ban imposed on its nationals.

Chad warned at the time the order could affect its security commitments, which include its involvement in the U.S.-backed fight against Boko Haram.

 

Boko Haram [Photo Credit: Pearl News]

Residents said the withdrawal had already had an impact on Niger’s Diffa region, which has seen a string of attacks by Boko Haram militants crossing over from their base in neighbouring Nigeria.

Ibrahim Arimi from the border village of Bosso said banditry had increased since the Chadian troops started leaving and he had been temporarily moved to another village for safety.

Diffa parliamentarian Lamido Moumouni said residents had started complaining.

“They have come to rely on the forces so there is a perception that security will be lacking,” he said by telephone.

At its peak in 2016 after an attack in Bosso, Chad had 2,000 troops in Niger to help counter Boko Haram although security sources said this has fallen since.

Boko Haram has attacked Chad, Niger and Cameroon from its base in northeast Nigeria.

Its eight-year bid to carve out an Islamist caliphate has driven millions from their homes, no fewer than 200,000 of them are now based in Diffa, with little prospect of returning home.

Thousands of them are camped alongside an unfinished highway in the middle of a barren savannah with few resources.

Chad’s soldiers also occupy front-line positions in a peacekeeping force in northern Mali.

Analysts say falling oil revenues after the price crash in 2014 has also sapped Chad’s appetite for expensive regional security commitments.

Source: PremiumTimes

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/foreign/west-africa-foreign/245984-chad-withdraws-troops-fight-boko-haram-niger.html

NCICC Blog

I will cooperate, Ocampo tells Bensouda as ICC starts…

Former ICC prosecutor Luis Ocampo has said he is not under investigation over an alleged leakage of confidential information to a war criminal in Libya.

Ocampo has however offered to help with the probe following the allegations.

In a letter to chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, he notes he is willing to help the Internal Oversight Mechanism (IOM) at the court unravel the case.

“I noted that you requested full cooperation to establish the facts. I want to support the inquiry,” Ocampo said on Thursday.

“By the IOM’s own standards, it cannot take into consideration information obtained by criminal means, but I can provide some documents and explanations to clarify the allegations.”

Last Friday, documents at the ICC indicated Ocampo allegedly leaked confidential information to a Libyan warlord.

The documents showed he secretly advised the suspect, a close ally to former Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi, for purposes of helping him escape justice at The Hague-based court.

He was allegedly paid Sh309 million ($3 million) over three years.

Read: Storm at ICC as Bensouda’s staff probed over Ocampo, Gaddafi bribery claim

Ocampo has refuted the claims saying none of the advice he has rendered since leaving office in June 2012 was in conflict of interest with the court’s operations.

He said the advice did not interfere with the court’s work or any of its officials and that it was not based on any internal or confidential information.

“Specifically, my advice, on the possibility that alleged crimes committed by different parties of  Libya’s conflict that started in 2014 were going to be investigated by the ICC, was exclusively based on your public statement before the UN Security Council presented on May 12, 2015,’ Ocampo told Bensouda.

He said he is willing to provide information to the IOM to prove information he used to offer his advice was public.

“Similarly, if my client authorizes me, I will provide documents from 2015 showing the scope of my advice in this conflict focused on how citizens could assist to investigate the crimes committed by the different parties to prevent violence.”

During his nine year tenure as ICC Chief Prosecutor, Ocampo was tasked with hunting down the world’s worst war criminals and bringing them to trial.

He had 300 employees at his disposal to help him conduct investigations in war zones and issue arrest warrants against heads of government.

Among his tasks was to investigate the Libyan civil war that broke out in February 2011 and led to the downfall and the consequent murder of Gaddafi by rebel forces on October 20 the same year.

The documents at the ICC indicated Ocampo advised Hassan Tatanaki, a dubious Libyan oil billionaire and former supporter of the Gaddafi regime, who was deeply involved in the Libyan civil war.

In his letter, Ocampo called for the expansion of the scope of an internal probe that has been launched into a hacking allegation at the court.

Luis Ocampo with his successor Fatou Bensouda at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, June 2012. /REUTERS

He says the document on the alleged bribery claims against him relied on information obtained from professional emails and confidential communication sent through the official ICC IT system during his tenure.

“I learned through the presidency’s statement that in the court’s assessment, the electronic system was not tampered with by the hack. As a consequence, the internal inquiry should also analyse whether someone with access to the official ICC IT system provided such emails to those who are presenting the allegations,” Ocampo said.

“If this was the case, it could represent a breach of confidential duties that should be investigated. I can provide further information on this aspect or any other aspect if required.”

Some of the high profile cases Ocampo handled were on Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony and crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.

He has however been criticized many times for having trouble concluding his cases in legally watertight ways.

 

 

 

NCICC Blog

Amnesty International Seeks Justice for Boko Haram Suspects

As the mass trial of Boko Haram suspects on terrorism-related charges continues in Nigeria, Amnesty International has argued that it will be impossible for the suspects to get justice without fair trials.

According to a statement issued yesterday by Amnesty International Nigeria’s Media Manager, Isa Sanusi, the rights group said it had repeatedly documented how thousands of people were rounded up in arbitrary arrests with no evidence and held for years in detention.

Speaking on the trials of the Boko Haram suspects, Amnesty International Nigeria’s Director Osai Ojigho, said: “These trials should provide a much-needed opportunity to deliver justice for the many victims of human rights abuses and crimes allegedly committed by Boko Haram members.”

 

“However, the fact the trials are taking place behind closed doors, with no access for the media or the public, raises huge concerns. Public hearings are crucial for protecting an individual’s right to a fair trial and due process,” Ojigho added.

“The Nigerian authorities must ensure that all fair trial rights are respected. Defendants must have access to lawyers and interpreters if required, and that witnesses and victims are protected from potential reprisals,” Ojigho said.

Amnesty International said it had repeatedly documented how thousands of people have been rounded up in mass arbitrary arrests with little or no evidence and held in detention for years.

“In instances where no prima facie case has been established, as is reportedly the situation in some of the cases, detainees should be immediately released,” the statement said.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), had announced that the prosecution of 2,321 suspected members of Boko Haram would begin on October 9.
A statement issued by Mr. Salihu Isah, Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the minister said the suspects were being detained in various detention facilities across the country.

While there are 1,670 detainees held at a detention facility in Kainji another 651 detainees are in detention in Maiduguri.

Isah also said that 220 detainees have been recommended for release and will participate in the deradicalisation programme for want of evidence.

In order to fast-track the prosecution of the cases, he said the justice minister had approved a list of prosecutors to handle the cases, adding that the Legal Aid Council had equally agreed to provide counsel to represent accused persons that cannot afford lawyers.

He said four judges had been designated by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to hear the cases at Kainji and dispose of them expeditiously.

According to him, 13 cases had been concluded, with nine convictions secured while 33 cases were on trial at various Federal High Court divisions.

Another 116 cases have been filed but the suspects were yet to be arraigned.

He said the trial of those detained in Kainji would start first to be followed by those detained in Maiduguri.

Source: ThisDay live :

https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2017/10/12/amnesty-international-seeks-justice-for-boko-haram-suspects/

NCICC Blog

Ensure Ghana Abides By Its International Law Obligations –…

Mr. William Nyarko (right) speaks to the diplomats at the session chaired by Mr. Roland Chauville (left), executive director of UPRInfo, Geneva

Mr. William Nyarko (right) speaks to the diplomats at the session chaired by Mr. Roland Chauville (left), executive director of UPR Info, Geneva

Research and education think tank Africa Center for International Law and Accountability (ACILA) has urged diplomats at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, to make recommendations to Ghana to ratify and domesticate international instruments to which it is a signatory when Ghana appears before the United Nations Human Rights Council next month for a review of its human rights record.

ACILA executive director, Mr. William Nyarko, who made the call to the diplomats during a presentation to the UN Permanent Missions on Tuesday, noted that even though Ghana had made commendable progress in implementing some of the recommendations that the diplomats had made in 2012, a lot remains to be done by Ghana to ensure compliance with its obligations under international law.

Mr. Nyarko’s call to the diplomats comes barely one month before diplomats on the United Nations Human Rights Council will review Ghana’s human rights record in Geneva on November 7, 2017 under the UN Universal Periodic Review mechanism. Under the UPR, the human rights record of all the 193 Member States of the UN is reviewed every five years.

The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system made up of 47 States responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights.

Prior to Ghana’s impending appearance at the Human Rights Council on November 2017, UPR Info, a Geneva-based NGO that aims to promote and strengthen the Universal Periodic Review process organized a pre-session for NGOs working in human rights in Ghana to make presentations to the diplomats and share the human rights situation on the ground with them. Ghana’s human rights record was reviewed by the Human Rights Council in 2012.

Continuing, Mr. Nyarko explained that at the 2012 UPR cycle, Hungary and Tunisia made a recommendation to Ghana, which Ghana accepted, to domesticate the Rome Statute, which Ghana had ratified as far back as 1999.

In April 2016, Ghana drafted the International Criminal Court Bill but the bill has since not been laid before Parliament for deliberation, passage, and signing into law. This state of affairs is attributable to lack of political will and lack of public demand for responsiveness and accountability from the state, he noted.

He urged the diplomats to recommend to Ghana to pass and sign the International Criminal Court Bill into law before the end of 2018 in order to establish a legal framework to enable Ghanaian courts to try offenses committed under the Rome Statute as well as enable the ICC to prosecute cases in Ghana where Ghanaian courts are unable to do so.

Touching on the signing and ratification of instruments, Mr. Nyarko recalled that at the 2012 UPR, about 20 recommendations were made to Ghana to, among other things, “ratify before the end of the third UPR cycle those conventions to which Ghana is a signatory (Hungary)”; ratify OP-CAT (Luxembourg, Australia, Tunisia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Spain);“ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty (Australia, Spain, Rwanda, Switzerland, France, Uruguay, Norway).

He said while Ghana had made some progress by ratifying one of the core human rights instruments, that is, the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OP-CAT) on September 23, 2016, majority of the instruments have still not been ratified or remain unsigned.

In the case of signing and ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition

of the death penalty (ICCPR-OP2), he observed that, Ghana, an abolitionist in practice, constituted a Constitutional Review Commission, which recommended in 2012 for the replacement of the death penalty with life imprisonment without parole.

According to Mr. Nyarko, this recommendation was to be put to a national referendum because the death penalty is an entrenched provision in the Constitution; however, the referendum has not been held.

He encouraged the diplomats to recommend to Ghana to ratify the international instruments to which Ghana is a signatory by December 2018 and put the recommendations of the CRC to a referendum by January 2020 to inform Ghana’s decision whether to sign and ratify ICCPR-OP2.

“In the meantime, Ghana should continue to commute death sentences to life imprisonment”, he added.

Source: Modern Ghana News https://www.modernghana.com/news/808992/ensure-ghana-abides-by-its-international-law-obligations-a.html

NCICC Blog

Cameroon probes deadly unrest in restive anglophone region

Cameroonian authorities have denied that security forces opened fire on protesters. By STR (AFP/File)

Cameroonian authorities have denied that security forces opened fire on protesters. By STR (AFP/File)

Yaoundé – Cameroon has launched a probe into recent deadly violence linked to a symbolic declaration of independence in the west African nation’s English-speaking region, the defence minister said Friday.

“Apart from the material damage, precise enquiries have been opened by judicial authorities on the toll,” Defence Minister Joseph Beti Assomo said on state radio.

According to an AFP tally, 14 people died in violence in the run-up to the symbolic October 1 declaration of independence of Ambazonia, the name of the state the separatists want to create.

However Amnesty International has given a toll of 17.

Cameroonian authorities have said that security forces did not open fire during the demonstrations.

Assomo had on Thursday visited Buea, the main city in the English-speaking southwest region, where he headed a meeting to review security.

Cameroon’s anglophone-francophone rift dates back to 1961 when the British-administered Southern Cameroons united with Cameroon after its independence from France in 1960.

The English speakers complain they have suffered decades of economic inequality and social injustice at the hands of the French-speaking majority.

Anglophones account for about a fifth of the 22 million population.

Source : Ghana News https://www.modernghana.com/news/809232/cameroon-probes-deadly-unrest-in-restive-anglophone-region.html

NCICC Blog

ICC Prosecutor renews call to arrest Libya commander

Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli is suspected of involvement in the deaths of 33 people in the war-torn city of Benghazi. By - (ICC-CPI/AFP/File)

Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli is suspected of involvement in the deaths of 33 people in the war-torn city of Benghazi. By – (ICC-CPI/AFP/File)

 The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has renewed her call for the immediate arrest of a senior Libyan commander wanted for war crimes, amid allegations he has killed more people.

Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli “stands accused of serious crimes. I therefore call again on Libya to take all possible steps to immediately arrest and surrender him to the ICC,” prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a statement.

Werfalli, born in 1978, is a senior commander in the Al-Saiqa brigade, an elite unit which defected from the Libyan National Army after the uprising against longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

The brigade has been battling alongside forces loyal to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar in Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city, which was recently liberated after a three-year campaign.

In August, ICC judges issued a warrant for his arrest, alleging he was behind a series of murders and bloody executions of 33 people in the city.

He is accused of being involved in at least seven incidents in 2016 and 2017, during which he allegedly personally shot or ordered the execution of people who were either civilians or injured fighters.

At the time, Libyan national army said Werfalli had been arrested and was under investigation by military authorities.

But Bensouda said she had received “reports alleging conversely that the suspect is at large and may have been involved in additional killings since the ICC warrant of arrest was issued.”

Her office was investigating, but Bensouda added she was “gravely concerned about these new allegations, and generally about further violent loss of life in Libya.”

The ICC remains in a legal tug-of-war with Libyan authorities to transfer Kadhafi’s son Seif al-Islam to The Hague, with the two sides disputing who has the right to judge him.

“Bringing safety, security and stability to Libya is a must,” Bensouda said, adding that “so is fighting impunity in Libya” for the grave crimes committed in the country.

Source: Modern Ghana News https://www.modernghana.com/news/802395/war-crimes-prosecutor-renews-call-to-arrest-libya-commander.html

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