Boko Haram attacks, crimes against humanity – International Criminal Court

July 4, 2012 by Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja 

Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Mrs. Fatou Bensounda, on Tuesday said the court had put Nigeria under a  preliminary examination due to the  Boko Haram insurgency in the North.
Bensounda told State House correspondents after meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa, Abuja that the attacks by the Islamic fundamentalists could also be described as crimes against humanity.
She said, “I am here to discuss issues of general cooperation with the authorities, starting with the President, and also to brief him on the preliminary examinations that have been taking place by the Office of the Prosecutor since four to five years now regarding the trouble in the Middle Belt area and most recently  the Boko Haram.
“Of course, these crimes are taking place, but we are happy at the moment that Nigeria is also taking steps to address these crimes.
“As you know, these crimes may be called terrorists attacks but they could also qualify as crimes against humanity and the ICC is not a court of first instance, it is a court of last resort.”
Bensounda added, “As long as the  Nigerian government is taking steps to address these crimes, the ICC will not intervene.
“And I want to emphasise that ICC is not yet investigating these crimes, Nigeria’s situation is just under a preliminary examination and if we see, by monitoring these crimes, that the same crimes we are monitoring, the Nigerian government is addressing those crimes, there will be no need for ICC’s intervention.
“The intention is not to intervene, but the intention is to ensure that Nigeria has the primary responsibility of investigating and prosecuting and Nigeria is actually doing that, in which case we will only need to observe that those proceedings are genuine proceedings which is the next phase, but we have not gone to that stage yet.”
Bensounda said she would meet with the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Bello  Adoke, and other authorities  involved in the problem.
Jonathan promised that his administration would support  the ICC in its efforts to check impunity.
He told Bensounda that because Nigeria did not encourage impunity, the country would cooperate with the ICC to check it.
He said he had directed Adoke and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Pius  Anyim,  to help Bensounda to make her visit to Nigeria a fruitful one.
He drew Bensouda’s attention to ICC’s involvement in five situations in Africa with the attendant criticism from the continent, and called on the Chief Prosecutor to use her experience in the Court to resolve potential areas of conflict or disagreement.