The relationship between the United States of America with the International Criminal Court (ICC) is murky and shaky. The US recently imposed sanctions on the ICC and its officials after appeals judges authorized an investigation into allegations of war crimes by US military and intelligence personnel in the period since May 2003. Commenting on the investigation, Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State was quoted by Reuters (11 may, 2020) saying “we cannot, we will not stand by as our people are threatened by a Kangaroo court.” 

Let’s be serious. Is the ICC a Kangaroo court? Isn’t this contempt of court? The US has always committed crimes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and racism against its own African Americans but has never been held accountable. Thus, the sin that the ICC committed is nothing but its efforts to seal the loophole that’s enabled the US to go scot-free. 

The US’ aggression against the ICC won’t demean the court. Instead, it will be deleterious to the US itself. Remember. The US forced President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy before the ICC after the country’s Post-Election Violence (PEV) in 2007. Barack Obama, then US President, urged Kenyan leaders ‘’to cooperate fully with the ICC investigation.”

America’s holier than thou predisposition is not only criminalising the nation, but also making it a pariah in the international circles. Trump’s presidency has turned the US into a laughingstock. The so-called leader of the free world’s no longer anything, but a bungled country that Trump wantonly rules as his private estate. 

The US has partaken of many delinquencies against other nations in Africa, Middle East, Central America and many more. Remember what it did to the DRC where it’s recorded that the US toppled and killed Patrice Emory Lumumba.  It perpetrated the same in Chile, Guatemala, Haiti, Iraq, Nicaragua, Panama and many more.  If the US knows what Kangaroo court means, the first Kangaroo court was the one that tried and sentenced Saddam Hussein to death. 

The US is currently at unnecessary wars with the ICC, WHO, the UN, Venezuela, China, and North Korea among others. By imposing sanctions on the ICC, the US has given ammos to African dictators who are now openly opposed to the ICC, which they view as an imperialist tool aimed at punishing only African criminals. 

The US is disparaging the ICC driven by the fear of what can transpire shall the ICC stand its ground and revisit the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945 respectively that saw of over 300,000 die not to mention millions who suffered from the aftermath of the bombings. For, the US and other hegemonic powers, the ICC must deal with feeble countries but not superpowers. 

 In a nutshell, the world needs to fearlessly stand up against US bullying behaviour and declare nemo est supra leges (nobody’s above law). If the US likes to remain relevant and significant in world affairs, it must stop this madness against the ICC and other international instruments. 

By Nkwazi Mhango

Mhango is a lifetime member of the Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador (WANL) and author of over 20 books among which are Africa Reunite or Perish, 'Is It Global War on Terrorism' or Global War over Terra Africana? How Africa Developed Europe and contributed many chapters in scholarly works.