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DAKAR: The military-led West African countries Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have announced their withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, denouncing it as “a tool of neocolonial repression.”
The announcement, in a joint statement published on Monday, is the latest example of diplomatic upheaval in West Africa’s Sahel region following eight coups between 2020 and 2023.
The three countries, which are ruled by military officers, have already split from the West African regional bloc ECOWAS and formed a body known as the Alliance of Sahel States. They have also curbed defense cooperation with Western powers and sought closer ties with Russia.
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have been members of the ICC, located in The Hague, for more than two decades. But their statement said they viewed the court as incapable of prosecuting war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes of aggression and genocide. It did not specify examples of where the countries believed the ICC had fallen short.
The three countries are battling Islamist militant groups that control large swathes of territory and have staged frequent attacks on military installations this year.
Human Rights Watch and other groups have accused the militants as well as the militaries and partner forces of Burkina Faso and Mali of possible atrocity crimes.
In April, United Nations experts said the alleged summary execution of several dozen civilians by Malian forces may amount to war crimes.
The ICC has had an investigation open in Mali since 2013 over alleged war crimes committed primarily in the northern regions of Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal, which had fallen under militant control. Later that year, France intervened to push back the insurgents.
The Mali investigation was opened following a referral from the government at the time.

COOMBO: Sri Lanka’s immigration chief was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday, the latest top official jailed under the government’s anti-corruption drive.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has revived corruption cases against members of the former administrations of the two Rajapaksa brothers – Mahinda and Gotabaya, and purged several top officials.
In the latest case, Harsha Ilukpitiya pleaded guilty to ignoring court orders to end a multi-million dollar contract that outsourced visa services to a foreign consortium.
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court handed down the two-year sentence to Ilukpitiya – who has already spent a year in custody – for contempt.
The case centered on a visa handling contract awarded by the previous government, which replaced a local provider charging one dollar per visa with a foreign consortium that raised the fee to $25.
The consortium – comprising India’s GBS Technology Services and IVS Global FZCO, with VFS Global as a technology partner – even applied the fee to citizens of countries that did not need visas.
Opposition parties and then-tourism minister Harin Fernando had argued the fee would discourage tourists.
Petitioners alleged that the contract was not awarded transparently and estimated that the consortium stood to earn up to $2.75 billion over a 16-year period.
The Supreme Court last year ordered the temporary reinstatement of the previous provider, which Ilukpitiya ignored.
The court has yet to rule on the legality of the outsourcing deal.