SUMMARY: In his first official address, national security adviser John Bolton took aim at the International Criminal Court, but also at the Palestine Liberation Organization, announcing the closure of the PLO's office in Washington [DC]. Nick Schifrin joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the connection to Middle East peace efforts, and Bolton’s world view.
SUMMARY: South Africa announced it will withdraw from the International Criminal Court, whose oversight includes 124 member nations. Burundi's parliament has also voted to leave the court, which was established in 2002 to investigate and prosecute war crimes. Andrew Meldrum, the acting Africa Editor for the Associated Press, joins Hari Sreenivasan from Johannesburg.
HARI SREENIVASAN, PBS NEWSHOUR WEEKEND ANCHOR: The United Nations' Human Rights Council in Geneva voted yesterday to start a formal inquiry into the Syrian government's bombardment of Aleppo, with the U.N.'s top envoy to Syria saying the military strikes on the city, aided by Russia, may amount to war crimes. The probe could eventually lead to a trial before the International Criminal Court, which was established in 2002 to investigate and prosecute wartime atrocities.
However, the court received a vote of no confidence yesterday when South Africa announced it will withdraw from the court's oversight. It's the second nation to do so — the other is Burundi — and it is unclear how many countries might follow their lead. The court has 124 member nations, including 34 in Africa.
Joining me now to discuss South Africa's move and how damaging it might be is Andrew Meldrum, the acting Africa editor for The Associated Press. He's in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Thanks for joining us.
So, why did South Africa take this step?
ANDREW MELDRUM, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: South Africa made the decision to leave the International Criminal Court because it did not like the court's decision that South Africa should have arrested the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, when he visited South Africa more than a year ago. And South Africa said the court should not be telling it to arrest sitting heads of state. There should have been diplomatic immunity. And so, they said they don't like that — what they called interference — from the ICC.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Coming on the heels of the withdrawal from Burundi, is this part of a larger trend?
ANDREW MELDRUM: Well, that — there are many that are worried that this — that the two African — that the decision of the two African countries to leave the ICC this week could set off a movement where several other African countries withdraw from the ICC.
Already, the African Union, which represents all 54 countries of Africa, has said that they don't think that the ICC should press charges against any sitting head of state. And Uganda's deputy foreign minister has said that he would like to see this issue of African members being in the ICC be brought up at the next African Union meeting.
HARI SREENIVASAN: So, why is this happening among African nations and not everywhere else? Do they feel disproportionately prosecuted?
ANDREW MELDRUM: That is the complaint, in fact. All six current prosecutions or prosecutions in the process are of Africans, and there, so far, the ICC has not indicted or pressed charges against any other people from any other part world. They do have the — the ICC does have investigations pending against leaders of Colombia and Afghanistan, but so far, no charges have been pressed.
And so, African leaders have said — they've complained for a couple of years now or more, that it's only Africans that the ICC is pressing charges against, and they think that is unfair.
SUMMARY: Four years ago, 16 holy tombs in Timbuktu, dating back to the 14th century, were demolished in an attack by Islamic militants. In the first-ever war crimes trial for cultural destruction, one of the men involved admitted his guilt and voiced regret at the International Criminal Court. Jeffrey Brown talks with DePaul University's Patty Gerstenblith for more on the challenges of prosecuting these crimes.
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): It's a first for the International Criminal Court at The Hague, a trial dealing with the destruction of cultural heritage.
It's over the deliberate wrecking in 2012 of historic earthen buildings and religious shrines in the West African nation of Mali.
Jeffrey Brown has the story. It's part of our ongoing series Culture at Risk.
JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour): Sixty holy tombs dating back to the 14th century, all reduced to rubble in a wave of violence unleashed on Timbuktu by Islamist militants four years ago.
Today, one of those responsible stood in front of the International Criminal Court and admitted his guilt.
AHMAD AL-FAQI AL-MAHDI, Former Islamist militant (through translator): I regret all the damage that my actions have caused. I regret what I have caused to my family, my community in Timbuktu, what I have caused my home nation, Mali.
JEFFREY BROWN: Prosecutors say Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi directed the destruction of nine mausoleums and damage to a mosque. He'd been recruited to lead a vice squad by a group of Islamist rebels, affiliated with al-Qaida, who seized control of Northern Mali in 2012.
AHMAD AL-FAQI AL-MAHDI (through translator): I was influenced by a group of deviant people from al-Qaida, and they were able to influence me, to carry me in their evil wave, through actions that affected the whole population.
JEFFREY BROWN: The rebels were eventually driven out by French troops in 2013. The heaps of rubble they left behind have since mostly been rebuilt with help from UNESCO.
In recent years, cultural relics across Northern Africa and the Mideast have been targeted by militant groups, most dramatically by the Islamic State at sites including the ancient cities of Palmyra, Syria, and Nimrud in Iraq. Unlike Mali, those countries are not subject to the jurisdiction of the ICC.
Mahdi, who, in the plea bargain faces 11 years in prison, today called for an end to such acts.
AHMAD AL-FAQI AL-MAHDI (through translator): I would like to give a piece of advice to Muslims all over the world, not to get involved in the same acts I got involved in, because they are not going to lead to any good to humanity.
