‘Scared Mugabe leads ICC pull out bid’

via ‘Scared Mugabe leads ICC pull out bid’ – NewZimbabwe 23/06/2015

AFRICAN UNION chairperson president Robert Mugabe, is pushing for member states to pull out of the International Criminal Court as he and his cabal are ideal candidates for prosecution, a former cabinet minister has said.

Former state enterprises minister Gorden Moyo told a public meeting in Bulawayo that Mugabe was leading African dictators who were pushing for a total pull-out so as to avoid prosecution.

The meeting was organised by Bulawayo Agenda held under the theme, “Justice or Impediment Agenda? An appraisal of International Criminal Court: Role and Implications of African Union Pull-out

Said Moyo: “Why is Mugabe and others really pushing for the pull-out?

“Robert Mugabe and his cabal are ideal candidates for international criminal prosecution and that is why he has sent Phelekezela Mphoko to go around the country preaching to people that there was no Gukurahundi.

“Mphoko is not doing this on his own, he is a proxy; he is just a messenger.

“Mugabe is sending people to go around lecturing people that Gukurahundi did not happen because he is afraid of what will happen if not to him, to his family, to his progeny or to the fourth generation as the Bible says.”

Vice President Mphoko torched a storm when he recently claimed that Mugabe was not involved in the 1980’s Gukurahundi killings, saying the attrocities were a western conspiracy.

Turning to the case of Sudanese president Omar Al Bashir who recently evaded arrest, Moyo said both the AU and China should take the blame.

The Sudanese president, charged with crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur between 2003 and 2005, slipped out of South Africa where he was attending an AU Summit, ignoring a High Court order prohibiting his departure.

“China is to blame; apart from the fact that China is a member of the P5 (five permanent members of the UN Security Council), they participated in the decision to prosecute Al Bashir but because they have investments in Sudan, China cannot allow a change of government in Sudan which they do not control.

“They want Al Bashir to protect their economic interests and that is why they have bribed most of these African leaders with Chinese money save for Botswana and Malawi,” said Moyo.

Calls for African countries to pull out of ICC have been growing louder, with the African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Gwede Mantashe adding his voice on the issue.

Mantashe was quoted by South African media saying South Africa should pull out of the ‘dangerous’ ICC.