ICC Investigates Libya Ignores Congo Genocide

What’s disturbing is not the announcement of the Libya probe itself, but the fact that more than five million Congolese lost their lives after the DRC was invaded and occupied by Uganda’s U.S.-trained and equipped army in 1997 and Ocampo has refused to investigate the genocide.


[Black Star News Editorial]

How Moreno Ocampo Corrupted the International Criminal Court

If there was need for further proof that the International Criminal Court (ICC) has become a corrupt instrument of United States foreign policy, it’s been provided by Luis Moreno Ocampo, the ICC’s prosecutor, who is also a publicity whore. Ironically, the U.S., in addition to Israel and the Sudan, “unsigned” the Rome Statute, the instrument which created the Court in 2002.

Ocampo, an Argentine, inexplicably remains as prosecutor even after serious rape charges against him by a South African female journalist compromised his tenure. Yesterday, Ocampo announced that the court will investigate alleged crimes against humanity committed by Muammar Gaddafi’s forces since the conflict in Libya erupted last month. What’s disturbing is not the announcement of the Libya probe itself, but the fact that more than five million Congolese lost their lives after the DRC was invaded and occupied by Uganda’s U.S.-trained and equipped army in 1997 and Ocampo has refused to investigate the genocide.

In addition to committing genocide in the Congo, Uganda’s military and allied militias raped both men and women and looted Congo’s natural resources and mineral wealth. How can the Court be taken seriously when it selectively prosecutes alleged criminals and their alleged crimes?

Indeed, in 2005, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found Uganda liable for the Congo war crimes and awarded the DRC $10 billion in compensation. According to a June 8, 2006 article in The Wall Street Journal, the ICC also launched an investigation of the Uganda crimes after Congo’s president Joseph Kabila referred the case to the Hague.

It’s been six years and the ICC under Ocampo, has stymied it’s own investigation–there are good reasons for this. Uganda stationed 8,000 troops in Somalia, on behalf of the United States to prop up an unpopular pro-U.S. government there. The U.S. fears Somalia could become a haven for Al Qaeda. So the U.S. commissioned Uganda’s army, which was already found liable for war crimes, to police Somalia.

In return, Uganda has been given a blank check. The lives of five million Congolese was traded on the alter of cynical political expedience. If Ocampo had any objections about the corruption of the ICC by the United States and this abhorent abuse of international law, he would have resigned. Clearly, he is a willing participant–a prosecutor aiding and abetting a crime. He is protecting the known criminal behind the Congo genocide, the commander in chief of Uganda’s army, General Yoweri K. Museveni, Uganda’s president.

Ocampo has also ignored crimes committed by U.S. allies such as Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, whose army also committed genocide in the DRC, as documented in the United Nations “mapping report.” He has also yet to indict Laurent Nkunda, a Rwanda acolyte, who also committed genocide in DRC with his militia, and is now protected by Rwanda.

Why should the ICC be taken seriously when it’s now evident that it picks and chooses the alleged crimes that it wants to “investigate” ignoring clear cases of genocide when it’s politically inconvenient?

Are the lives of Congolese any less valuable than the lives of Libyans? Is Ocampo’s quick interest on alleged Libya atrocities based on any concern for the lives of Libyans or is it because the country, unlike DR Congo, is in the news, has the focus of the U.S. and holds trillions of dollars worth of oil wealth? Is the ICC really serious about investigating alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and wars of aggression, or is it a fictitious court that does the bidding of the United States and other countries such as the U.K.? Where is the single case when the ICC prosecuted crimes committed by U.S. allies?

Ocampo has ignored the genocide of Congolese by Uganda’s and Rwanda’s military. Ocampo and his Court have aided and abetted crimes against humanity.


“Speaking Truth To Empower.”

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