At the UN Security Council a resolution on the deferral of the International Criminal Court (ICC) trial of Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta fails to pass when put to the vote.

Two weeks ago we asked you to vote on what you thought was the best African Arguments article of 2013. The votes have been counted, approved by the Carter Centre and we have a clear winner: Stephen Lamony’s “˜Is the International Criminal Court really picking on Africa?‘

Lamony’s article captured the zeitgeist of a year where two ICC-indictees ran a Presidential campaign that was pivoted on an anti-ICC stance. The ICC remains a key ideological issue for many Africans (and those from ouside the continent) who may be concerned with Western meddling in the internal affairs of sovereign states, or are eager to end the culture of impunity that still dogs African politics.

Whilst any competition to qualitatively determine the “˜best’ of anything is necessarily subjective, Lamony’s article is a worthy winner. Here’s the top 5 in full:

1. Is the International Criminal Court really picking on Africa? – Stephen A. Lamony shows that far from opposing the ICC, most Africans are in favour of the court and support its use to prosecute the continent’s most difficult and high-profile cases.

2. Nigeria: After Baga, JTF lost in a maze of rocks and hard places – Alkasim Abdulkadir looks at the failures of the Nigerian army and government that led to 187 deaths in a fire-fight with militants in the small town of Baga.

3. Central African Republic: President Michel Djotodia and the good little putschist’s tool box – Louisa Lombard introduces us to Michel Djotodia, the latest president of the Central African Republic.

4. Wars do End: why conflict in Africa is falling – Scott Straus argues that contrary to what we might think, Africa is more peaceful now than it has ever been.

5. Kenya transfixed by its illiberal and rightwing gang of eight – Daniel Waweru reports on the first ever televised Presidential debate in Kenya. And is somewhat dispirited by what he sees.

Have a good Christmas. We’ll be back in January.

Magnus Taylor

Editor, African Arguments