By Max Bartels 

Impunity Watch, Managing Editor 

Johannesburg, South Africa 

African Union chairman and Zimbabwean head-of-state Robert Mugabe voiced his disapproval of the international criminal court on Tuesday after the court issued an order for the arrest of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. Bashir was attending a summit of African leaders in Johannesburg, South Africa when, following the meeting he quickly boarded his plane and flew back to Khartoum to avoid being taken into custody.Bashir is the subject of the arrest warrant for genocide regarding his as president of Sudan, which includes the region of Darfur. According to the United Nations 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur and the ethnic conflict still continues today.

Mugabe and South African President Jacob Zuma voiced their disapproval of the International Court and its actions on the African continent. Mugabe is reported to have stated that the International Criminal Court is not wanted in Africa. Mugabe also claimed that Zuma shared this believe stating Zuma told him he would not allow Bashir to be arrested in South Africa. South Africa is a member of the statute, which created the International Criminal Court, and Zuma’s alleged statements have caused many in the international community to demand action from the Court and the United Nations. Nick Kaufman, a lawyer who is representing victims in Darfur demanded the Court’s prosecutor file for a formal finding of “non-compliance” and report it to the United Nations.

South Africa released a statement stating that since Bashir was attending a meeting of the African Union he enjoyed diplomatic immunity while in South Africa. A South African court disregarded the claim of immunity and issued a warrant for Bashir’s arrest but by then he had already departed. Mugabe went further in his statements against he International Court saying that now many countries regret signing on to the treaty. Many African leaders have expressed concern that the Court targets African heads of state. It is true that the indictees of the Court have all been African, however, seven out fo nine were refred to the court by African governemtns. The Court has also initiated investigations in Afghanistan, Columbia, Georigia, Honduras, Iraq, South Korea and Ukraine.

For more information, please see:

The Associated Press — AU Head Mugabe Says International Court Unwelcome in Africa — 16 June, 2015 

Voice of America — AU Summit Ends With Growing Concern About International Court — 16 June, 2015

The Guardian — Give a Voice to Darfur Victims in ICC Debate — 18 June, 2015 

The Economist — Justice Delayed — 18 June, 2015

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

MASERU, Lesotho – Polls opened in Lesotho’s elections on Saturday. The vote was called two years ahead of schedule under a political deal aimed at calming tensions between the country’s warring political factions. The deal was brokered by South Africa, which surrounds the small, mountainous landlocked country. Feuding parties in Lesotho’s ruling coalition faced off in Saturday’s elections in an attempt to restore stability six months after an attempted coup. Lesotho’s Prime Minister, Thomas Thabane, briefly fled the country to South Africa last August after soldiers occupied the police headquarters and surrounded his palace. Thabane accused his deputy Mothetjoa Metsing of working with the military in the attempted coup, an accusation which both Metsing and the military dismiss. The country of two million people has seen several coup attempts since the small landlocked country gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1966. Fears are growing that post-election unrest could further erode the country’s $2.3 billion economy, which was expected to expand by nearly 5 percent this year.

Despite high political tensions the Campaigning ahead of the elections has been largely peaceful but analysts say tensions were high before the parliamentary vote between Thabane’s All Basotho Convention (ABC) against Metsing’s Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD), as well as other smaller political parties. “The idea of these elections is to try solve a crisis but I think they might perpetuate one,” said Gary Staden, a political analyst. “My concern is any mess up like failure to deliver ballot papers is going to be interpreted as someone trying to rig the election and that could set off an unrest,” he added.

Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s Deputy President helped broker the political deal to bring elections forward by two years in an effort to restore stability in the country. There are now 23 politicians vying for the premiership and political analysis believe another collation formed by disparate political parties is likely. Deputy President Ramaphosa arrived in Maseru early this morning to help oversee the elections. A government spokesmen said “he is expected to witness democracy in action in Lesotho,” spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said. “During his visit today, deputy president Ramaphosa will be visiting four voting stations around Maseru.”

Many of the people of Lesotho hope the elections will bring peace and help ease political tensions in the small landlocked country. “I am expecting peace after this election. We are used to hunger and poverty,” a 77-year-old pensioner Mmamakgobe Makgobe said. However, there was little sign of optimism on the streets of the capital. “Why bother voting? I am not going to waste my time to vote because this election is all about Thabane and Metsing. It has nothing to do with what we want as voters,” said Dineo Motlou, a 22-year sales assistant at supermarket chain. Due to the remoteness of some of the country’s voting stations and communities a complete election result may not be realized for several days.  Commentators have been reluctant to project a winner in the absence of reliable opinion polls, instead choosing to wait for final results.

For more information please see:

BBC News – Lesotho Elections Under Way Aimed At Resolving Tensions – 28 February 2015

The Citizen – Ramaphosa in Lesotho for Elections – 28 February 2015

U.S. News and World Reports – Mountain Kingdom Of Lesotho Holds Early Election after Collapse of Coalition Government – 28 February 2015

Reuters – Lesotho Prepares For Early Vote in Bid to Ease Political Crisis – 26 February 2015

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

MOGADISHU, Somalia – At least 15 people, including two members of the Somali Parliament and Mogadishu’s deputy mayor, were killed on Friday in an attack on a hotel often used by government officials in Somalia’s capital 20 others were wounded in the attack. Militant’s reportedly attacked the hotel with a car packed with explosives which was detonated near the main gate of the high-profile Central Hotel. The hotel is located only a few miles from the cede of Somali political power, the Presidential Palace.

Following the explosion heavy gunfire between the militant attackers and hotel guards broke out, witnesses reported. Shortly after a second blasted carried out by a female suicide bomber at a mosque inside the hotel was reported as other attackers shot their way inside the hotel, a reporter said. “I saw … several people burned by the flames of the explosions lying on the blood-filled ground inside the hotel,” said Mustaf Mohamed, a witness who runs a small shop nearby.

Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mohamed Omar Arte was among those inside the Central Hotel at the time of the attack, having just attended traditional Friday prayers. The Deputy Prime Minister suffered minor injuries but survived the attack, state media reported. Transportation Minister Ali Jama Jangeli also suffered minor injuries. Parliament members Hajji Gafe and Ali Omar, as well as Mohamed Aden Guled, Mogadishu’s deputy mayor, were killed in the attack.

Al-Shabaab, an Islamist extremist group which has committed several terrorist acts in Somalia and the region over the past several years has claimed responsibility for the attack, Sheikh Abdiaziz Abu Musab, a spokesman for the terror group, said on Andulus radio, a radio station ran by the militant group. “We have killed more than 20 senior officials working for the apostate government. They gathered thinking they were safe from the mujahedeen,” he said. Al- Shabaab controlled much of Mogadishu from 2007 to 2011. However, the group was pushed out of Somalia’s capital and other major cities by African Union forces.

The presidential palace condemned the attack in a tweet citing President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, “#AlShabaab are un-Islamic and anti-democracy.”

Friday’s assault on the Central Hotel was the second on a hotel in Mogadishu in less than a month. On January 22, three Somali nationals were killed by another female suicide car bomber who blew himself up at the gate of a hotel housing the advance party of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who visited the country only days after the attack.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Al-Shabab Stages Deadly Attack on Somalia Luxury Hotel – 21 February 2015

CNN International – Police: At Least 15 Dead In Attack on High-Profile Mogadishu Hotel – 20 February 2015

CBS News – Somali Officials Hit In Suicide Attack – 20 February 2015

USA Today – Suicide Bombings at Somalia Hotel Kill At Least 10 People – 20 February 2015