Last July, a number of events laid bare the difficulties that international justice has in progressing; one of the main problems is the expansion of jurisdiction beyond state borders in cases of genocide or massive violations of human rights.
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In the face of lawsuits and summons by Spanish and French judges, Rwandan President Paul Kagame managed to secure broad support from the African Union (AU) for his proposal that its members neither answer nor accept being tried in other countries or by international courts.
At the same time, and in the wake of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to charge the President of Sudan with genocide in Darfur, the African Union, the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference closed ranks, accusing the West of interfering in their internal affairs.
For the first time ever, African voices clamoured as one against accountability, its methods and its agents.