Three Russia-friendly military junta-run African countries pull out of ICC

The ruling military juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger say their countries are withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing the global tribunal of what they say is selective justice.

The ICC, based in The Hague, is the world's permanent global tribunal for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

In a joint statement announcing their withdrawal on Monday evening, the three countries said the ICC has become an "instrument of neocolonial repression in the hands of imperialism," without elaborating on the allegation.

The juntas also said they are seeking more "sovereignty" and hinted at a local option to the court.

The withdrawal was not unexpected in the wake of the military coups that brought the juntas to power in the three West African countries.

Since the coups, the three countries' military leaders abandoned long-time partners, including the political and economic bloc, ECOWAS.

Closer ties with Russia

They have established new alliances, mainly with Russia, whose President Vladimir Putin is subject to an arrest warrant by the ICC over the alleged forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Russia has provided Mali with helicopters, arms and ammunition, and the junta partnered with the Wagner mercenary group, ostensibly for support in countering an Islamist insurgency across the Sahel region, which has been ongoing since 2011.

In a report published last year, Human Rights Watch accused Wagner and the Malian army of committing serious abuses against civilians, saying at least 32 non-combatants had been killed.

Wagner also signed an agreement with the junta in Burkina Faso, again for support in combating a Jihadist insurgency in the country.

Burkina Faso was also one of a group of African countries to receive 50,000 tons of free grain from Russia in 2023.

Earlier this year, Russia and Burkina Faso said they would work together to strengthen economic ties and diversify trade.

While in Niger, Russian troops were permitted to move into an airbase in Niamey that the government had previously told US forces to leave.

Meanwhile, the ambassadors of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger all visited Russian-occupied Crimea earlier this week, accompanied by Russian diplomats.

"African diplomats grossly violated international law, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, as well as several UN General Assembly resolutions, including No 68/262 on the territorial integrity of Ukraine, which reaffirms the non-recognition of any changes to the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol," Ukraine's foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Other withdrawals

The withdrawal process from the ICC takes at least a year to complete. Earlier this year, Hungary also announced its withdrawal from the court.

Gergely Gulyás, the chief of staff for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, criticised the ICC in April for allegedly deviating from its original purpose and becoming a "political body," citing an arrest warrant against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of allegedly using starvation as a method of warfare and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

The first country to leave the ICC was Burundi in 2017. South Africa and the Gambia have both threatened to leave, but have reversed or halted their decisions to do so.

All three states claim the court is biased against African countries.

The Philippines left the court in 2019, but its former President Rodrigo Duterte is under arrest and currently facing prosecution on murder charges stemming from his infamous "war on drugs".