Socio-Economics is the study of relationship between economic activities and social life. It is a multidisciplinary components involving theories and modules from sociology and economics for human dignity among others. However, socioeconomists focuses on social impacts and political activities that affects economic changes, or causes that impact a society. The Goal to Socio/economic study is to bring about improvement on socioeconomic development environment…Give Opinion or Discuss
Monday, October 14, 2013
Good
people !!!
I
tend to agree with Tutu in many ways when it comes to calling shots for Justice
where two (white and black) tango.............Where will the world stand for
justice???So if foreign/Western
Diplomats caves in, there is no justice afterall.........
In
the meantime, all remaining evidences will be destroyed. Where is the world
headed really..........??? Does this not explain our fears that, fear of the
big business names as expressed by the opinion lawyers on the TV weekend talk
show in Nairobi, fear to be named??? So after one year, all facts will have
been barried and the truth is murdered.......is it because, no African is of
any Value???
Uhuru Kenyatta ICC case
to be put off, Western diplomats say
President Uhuru Kenyatta arrives
for the extraordinary session of the African Union's Assembly of Heads of State
and Government on the case of African Relationship with the International
Criminal Court (ICC), in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, October 12, 2013.
Photo/FILE
In Summary
The
western leaders' move is aimed at avoiding a stand-off between the ICC and
African countries after the African Union directed the President not to attend
the trial.
Western diplomats have reached a deal to have the UN Security
Council defer Uhuru Kenyatta's International Criminal Court trial by a year,
according to a report in The Telegraph.
Speaking
at the African Union extraordinary summit, President Kenyatta accused the court
of being used by European and American governments, adding that the court had
humiliated and stigmatised him and his Deputy William Ruto.
Speaking
to The Telegraph, a senior European diplomat said: “Uhuru is not an indicted
figure who is defying the court like Sudan’s president (Omar) Bashir. He is
someone who is working closely with the West in a region in chaos that needs to
tackle a very worrying terrorist situation,” adding that a solution must be
found that avoids a breakdown in relations with President Kenyatta or the
court’s authority.
Why Africa leaders
failed to strike deal on ICC in Ethiopia
Kenyan President Uhuru
Kenyatta (L) speaks with Cabinet secretary for Foreign Affairs Amina Mohammed
(R), and Attorney General Githu Mungai (2-R) at the African Union ahead of a
special summit on the continent's relationship with the International Criminal
Court (ICC) on October 12, 2013. Photo/AFP
In Summary
French-speaking nations are keen to fight impunity and end violent conflicts
on continent
Francophone countries
and Botswana apply brakes on moves to divorce continent from world court over
Kenya
A clash between French-speaking and English-speaking African countries sunk a
move to withdraw Africa from the International Criminal Court in Addis Ababa at
the weekend.
A combination of factors
— including a division between Anglophone and Francophone countries and endless
conflicts in the continent — put paid to efforts by some countries to have the
African Union announce its withdrawal from the International Criminal
Court.
They instead issued five
demands to the ICC and its guarantor, the United Nations Security Council, to
meet and pave the way for new relations with the court on crimes against
humanity and high level impunity.
They also warned that
should their list of demands not be met by November 12, the date set for
President Kenyatta’s trial at The Hague, they will convene another Special AU
Summit to make far-reaching resolutions. (VIDEO: Uhuru urged to skip ICC
trial)
Sources at the AU
executive council and the Heads of State meeting said that Kenya, Uganda,
Rwanda, Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Malawi,
Tanzania and Algeria pushed for the immediate declaration of the withdrawal from
the Rome Statute. Algeria is a French-speaking nation and is not a member of the
ICC.
Kenya’s delegation at
the executive council meeting, led by Foreign Secretary Amina Mohamed and
Attorney-General Githu Muigai was said to have reminded their colleagues that
what ICC was doing to Kenya could be done to any African country in future.
This was the reason,
they said, decisions should be taken to stop the ICC. They were aghast that the
ICC had failed to respect elected African presidents and time had come for the
continent to flex its muscle by renouncing its ICC membership.
It was said that they
were disturbed by remarks made by the lead prosecutor in the Ruto case, Mr Anton
Styneberg, that Kenya could appoint someone else to play the Deputy President’s
role to allow the substantive holder of the position to be tried without
interruption.
The remark, they said,
bordered on lack of respect for elected African leaders.
However, Francophone
countries were opposed to the proposal for mass withdrawal, saying, the AU
should pursue their concerns with the UN Security Council and the State Parties
forum.
Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, the Gambia, Mali and Burkina Faso were unhappy with
the slow pace at which the AU has been moving to resolve conflicts in
Africa.
Joined by Botswana, they
argued that while they were in agreement that the ICC should not prosecute
sitting presidents, Africa — which has a long list of conflicts — should not be
seen to be taking a move that will create room for such dark acts. They cited
civil war in Eastern Congo, the Boko Haram conflict in Nigeria and events in
Mali where the AU failed to act on time.
The Francophone
countries were further opposed to the proposal that all AU members who wish to
invite the ICC to investigate cases in their countries should first consult the
union. This, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire argued, would deny countries their right
to solve internal problems.
It was also understood
that Côte d’Ivoire and Sudan, which have cases at the ICC, wanted their position
in the final statement from the Special AU Summit to be strongly reflected as
was Kenya’s. Their delegations argued that while the Kenya case was urgent,
their own situations also merited being included higher up in the
resolutions.
Perhaps, this was the
reason AU chairman Hailemariam Dessalegn, also Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, said
in his opening remarks: “It should be underscored that our goal is not and
should not be a crusade against the ICC, but a solemn call for the organisation
to take Africa’s concerns seriously.”
The Special Summit
apparently had attracted the attention of the UN and the ICC.
Sources at yesterday’s
meeting said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called each of the presidents in
attendance, seeking to persuade them against resolving to withdraw from the
ICC.
Mr Ban promised to use
his position to amend the Rome Statute charter to bring on board the concerns
that were being raised by the continent.
It is understood that President Robert Mugabe of
Zimbabwe, a strong supporter of severing links with The Hague, reminded the UN
boss that he has “no teeth” to push for the amendments.
CONSIDERING DEFERMENT
AU Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zumba, in her welcoming remarks,
said:
“I met ICC prosecutor
Fatou Bensouda early in the week and expressed to her the concern that the UN
Security Council and the ICC should work with us to enable the elected
leadership of Kenya to fulfil their constitutional obligations by urgently
considering deferment of the ICC proceedings against the President and
Vice-President of Kenya in accordance with Article 16 of the Rome Statute.”
A section of lawyers on Sunday warned of the
possibility of the International Criminal Court issuing a warrant for President
Kenyatta’s arrest should he fail to attend his trial in The Hague.
Liberia's Charles Taylor
prefers Rwandan jail to UK
Updated Monday, October 14th 2013 at 17:17 GMT
+3
Ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor has
asked to serve his 50-year sentence for war crimes in Rwanda, rather than the UK.
In a letter sent to the court that
convicted him, he says it would be easier - and less expensive - for his family
to visit him in Africa.
He also said he feared being attacked in
a British prison.
Taylor was convicted of aiding rebels
who committed atrocities in Sierra Leone during its civil war.
Last week, a UK minister confirmed that
Taylor would be transferred to a British prison.
He was convicted by the UN-backed
Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), but his trial was held in The Hague in
case it sparked renewed unrest in West Africa.
The Netherlands only agreed to host the trial if he was imprisoned
elsewhere.
'Own brand of justice'
In
a letter seen by the BBC, Taylor wrote:
"My position is that serving my sentence in Rwanda, in my home
continent of Africa, would be substantially more humane not only on my own
account, but also on account of the impact on my family."
He noted that the court's statutes said access for prisoners' relatives
should be taken into account when deciding where they should serve their
sentence.
He said that it would be cheaper and easier to travel to Rwanda - and that
Liberian nationals could obtain visas at the airport, unlike in the UK.
Taylor, 65, was convicted on 11 crimes including terrorism, rape, murder
and the use of child soldiers by rebel groups in neighbouring Sierra Leone
during the 1991-2002 conflict, in which some 50,000 people died.
He was found to have supplied weapons to the Revolutionary United Front
(RUF) rebels in exchange for so-called blood diamonds.
The rebels were notorious for hacking off the limbs of civilians to
terrorise the population.
Taylor has always insisted he is innocent and his only contact with the
rebels was to urge them to stop fighting.
He is the first former head of state convicted by an international war
crimes court since World War II.
In his three-page letter, dated 10 October, Taylor continued: "My name is
now associated with horrendous atrocities. Prison inmates, whether from the
region or not, are likely to be inclined to inflict their own brand of justice
by attacking me."
He pointed out that "a significant number of individuals from Sierra
Leonean background are in detention in prisons in the UK" and noted that in
2011, Bosnian war criminal Radislav Krstic was attacked in a British jail by
three Muslim men, apparently in revenge for his role in the Bosnian
conflict.
Taylor argued that the UK authorities "may also simply be unaware of the
groups that might be particularly motivated to attack me in prison".
"In short, incarceration in the United Kingdom will likely - and very soon
- lead to me being seriously injured or killed."
Some other people convicted by the SCSL are already serving their sentences
in Rwanda.
Last
week, UK Justice Minister Jeremy Wright noted that the British offer to host
Taylor had enabled his trial to proceed in The Hague.
He told parliament: "The conviction of Charles Taylor is a landmark moment
for international justice."
"It clearly demonstrates that those who commit atrocities will be held to
account and that no matter their position they will not enjoy impunity."
Taylor's appeal against his conviction was rejected last month and he
remains in The Hague, awaiting transfer.
-BBC
---------------------------------
Govt: United Nations considering African Union
deferral request on Kenyan ICC cases
Updated Monday, October 14th 2013 at 16:53
GMT +3
By Standard Reporter
Nairobi, Kenya: Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina
Mohammed Monday reiterated African Union (AU) summit resolution that President
Uhuru Kenyatta should not attend his trial at The Hague.
Uhuru's trial is set to commence on November 12.
Mohammed also emphasised AU’s decision that no sitting Head of State shall
go on trial during his/her tenure.
“No charges shall be commenced or continued before any International Court
or Tribunal against any serving Head of State or Government or anybody acting or
entitled to act in such capacity during his or her term of office,” said
Mohammed.
The AU summit request to have trials
deferred has been forwarded to the UN security council and cabinet secretary
said the country should respect and await it’s action.
“The summit
requested the ICC to postpone the trial of President Kenyatta and suspend
proceedings against Deputy President Ruto until such a time as the United
Nations Security Council pronounces itself on Kenya’s request for a
deferral.”
While briefing the press on AU’s
resolution the International Criminal Court (ICC) case facing President Uhuru
Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto, Mohammed said that Kenya will continue to
cooperate with The Hague-based court.
She however added that the president’s atatus has changed since his
election into office and therefore the matter is no longer personal.
“The president’s case is no longer a
personal matter, otherwise it would not have attracted attention of the AU,”
said the cabinet secretary.
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