We’re Not Done Yet, Hague Court Tells Burundi’s Leaders<br />Willy Nyamitwe, the senior adviser and spokesman for President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi, said in a Twitter posting<br />that the court’s decision reflected what he called its "outrageous lies to implement Westerners’ hidden agenda to destabilize #Africa."<br />What appears to be a today’s decision is nothing else but a backdated decision (October 25, 2017).<br />The decision stunned and infuriated the government of Burundi, the tiny southern African nation<br />that is the first — and so far, only — country to withdraw as a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the court in 2002.<br />9, 2017<br />When Burundi became the first country to withdraw from the International Criminal Court less than two weeks ago, its<br />leaders thought they had successfully avoided an inquiry into egregious crimes including murder, torture and rape.<br />In September, a United Nations human rights panel found<br />that Burundi’s top leaders and security agencies were implicated in such crimes, and it urged the International Criminal Court to open an inquiry.<br />#Burundi#Twenga https://t.co/0zmchAwNDo Burundi’s withdrawal has come to symbolize resentment by African<br />leaders toward the Hague-based court, which has largely focused on crimes committed in Africa.
