Raila hits out at AU for failing to assist Burundi

Cord leader Raila Odinga has hit out at the African Union over its refusal to deploy peacekeeping troops to Burundi to help quell the civil unrest that has rocked the country since last year.

In a statement to newsrooms, the opposition leader noted that by not sending troops to Burundi, the AU was standing with the incumbent president whom he accused of running a murderous regime.

“The decision to not to deploy troops is a decision to stand with the incumbent and his murderous regime, against the helpless citizens of Burundi,” read the statement.

Raila also castigated the African leaders for concentrating all their attention and energies on withdrawing their countries from the Rome Statute without offering an alternative, further accusing them of only looking after their interests.

“Common sense would dictate that talk of withdrawal from the ICC be preceded by presentation of alternative institutions and legal infrastructure to give Africans what they were looking for when they joined the ICC in the first place,” he said.

He stated that it was unwise to withdraw from the ICC without an alternative, as it would expose citizens of African countries to “marauding tyrants”.

“For the African Union to leave the ICC before this infrastructure is put up is to expose the population of Africa to marauding tyrants, many of them in control of State power, who can now carry out their atrocities in the comfort of the knowledge that they shall never be brought to account for their crimes against humanity,” further read the statement.

The African Union on Sunday adopted a proposal by President Uhuru Kenyatta for the AU to develop a road map for the withdrawal of African nations from the Rome Statute.

The proposal was adopted along with a report by the AU Ministerial Committee of Ministers of Foreign Affairs that criticises the ICC over the manner in which it has been handling the case against Deputy President William Ruto and Joshua arap Sang.

The document asks the ICC to terminate the case against Ruto and Sang as the case lacks any believable evidence.