I am sure it makes sense to say the International Criminal Court is a court for the poor and developing countries

There is need for consistancy is the ICC is to maintain its status and global legitimancy as a ‘gift of hope’ like former UN Security General once said.

With double hope

” In the U.S., President Obama is in no rush to prosecute members of the previous Administration for what he recognizes correctly as torture and surely will not allow the ICC to do the job that the U.S. courts are unwilling to do.”

This is why we need the ICC to do what the US refuses to do, not only that, but hopefully have the US join the ICC one day. If the ICC can be this force of international justice and harness enough power, then other countries will follow suit. There have been many positive things that the ICC has done as well, especially in the case in Sudan. IJCentral believes that ICC’s indictment of Omar al Bashir is indeed helping the Sudan.

Visit http://www.ijcentral.org to find out more up to date information about the activities of the ICC. IJCentral is a resource of articles, blogs, discussions, and videos about the ICC. It would be another place to hold open discussions about Sudan and other activities of the ICC.

The warrant of arrest issued to the sitting Sudanese president has come to be perceived with mixed feelings on the continent and I would like to make my contribution in regard to the mixed feelings that have been invoked by the issuance of the warrant of arrest. .
 
First and foremost if the arrest takes place it would have set a very serious precedence on the continent and probably the autocratic leaders would definitely carry out their mandates of governance more cautiously in light of human rights abuses and in the protection of civilians and their properties. This explains why many of the leaders in Africa who are having similar conditions of gross human rights abuses in their countries are so very much against the arrest warrants because it dawns down to them that when this precedence is set next in line would be them.
 
To me this has merits that I felt I should highlight, point in case is that more good governance practices will be embarked on by many of the leaders on the continent, and the opposition parties will be more tolerated to operate with less prosecution of leaders and members of the parties and their activities.
 
African leaders will change their attitude towards the notion of staying in power till death do us part with government because they will realise that the more time spent in power the more likely one becomes susceptible to embark on coercive means and disregard of human rights in a bid to keep the preserve of power. 
 
However I do agree that Sudan is an isolated case that sees the big guys trying to prove a point to the small guys because all the northern and western powers are now like never before busy defending the warrant of arrest issued against President Omar Bashir and are forgetting so hastily that they were very silent last December 2008 as we transited into 2009 as the world witnessed the gross violation of human rights and miming of young innocent Palestinians children. Aid agencies were denied access to help the people caught up in the indiscriminate bombardment, United Nations schools and properties were destroyed and one would think that these would be the areas to seek refuge in times as desperate as these. This creates a mythology that as long as these acts of gross violation of human rights are in the interest of the countries that call the big shots on the international scene then it is fine for things to happen this way without question.