Africa and the International Criminal Court: Between Cooperation and Antagonism

Africa and the International Criminal Court (ICC) are at loggerheads with each other due to a growing perception of the ICC as an anti-African project. With some African countries proposing mass withdrawal from the Rome Statute of the ICC, the crisis is taking a different shape. This is happening in spite of the fact that Africa remains the largest continental bloc in the ratification history of the treaty establishing the ICC. The research aims at deciphering real/perceived causes of the growing hostility, and tries to identify solutions for improved collaboration. This will be done by examining the threat of en mass withdrawal from the Rome Statute, as espoused in different times by countries whose leaders are wanted by the ICC Prosecutor. The analysis will involve a cross-cutting interdisciplinary discourse, encompassing the theoretical framework of transitional justice, the exigencies of post-conflict transformation and the need to promote resilience of fragile nation-states.