The International Criminal Court: Why The Biya Gov’t Has So Far Evaded To Ratify The Rome Statute, For Cameroon To Become A Member Of The ICC.

From all indications, the Coalition of the International Criminal Court, CICC, has finally given up on efforts to persuade the Cameroon Government, or better still the Biya Government, to deposit the instrument to ratify the Rome Statute that created the International Criminal Court, ICC, so that Cameroon can become a member State of the ICC.

Sources close to the ICC have told The Mentor that from the look of things, there appears to be no hope that the Biya Government will ever ratify the Rome Statute for Cameroon to become a member of the ICC. The sources assert that Cameroon will only likely become a member of the ICC, when the Biya Government will leave power or will be succeeded by another Government.  The sources regretted that though Cameroon was one of the 60 countries, that signed the Rome Statute, which permitted the creation of the International Criminal Court in 1998 as an institution of the United Nations, the Cameroon Government has so far failed to ratify the Rome Statute for Cameroon to become a member country of the ICC, despite repeated promises.

The Coalition Of The International Criminal Court

A couple of years after the creation of the ICC, a global network of civil society organizations working to support a Fair, Effective And Independent IC C,  came together at the Hague and created  the Coalition for the International Criminal Court.  By the beginning of 2012, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court had become a global network of over 2000 civil society organizations.

Continental Coalitions for ICC were created in the different continents of the world, for the sensitization and vulgarization of the mission of the Coalition for the ICC at the continental level, as well as to encourage or persuade countries in the different continents that had not yet ratified the Rome Statute of the ICC, to do so.

The Continental Coalitions for the ICC, were also to see to the implantation of the CICC in the different countries of the different continents, with the creation of National Coalitions for the International Criminal Court.  The National Coalitions of the ICC were charged with the mission to carryout vulgarization and sensitization of local civil society organizations, on the mission of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court.

National Coalition For The International Criminal Court In Cameroon

One of the first African members of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court was  Cameroonian born  international legal consultant,  Barrister ROLAND ABENG,  a member of  the Cameroon Bar Association as well as  a member of the America  and UK Bar Associations. Barrister Abeng also became a member of the first Executive Committee of the African Coalition for the ICC.   Barrister Abeng was charged to create a national structure of the Coalition of the ICC in Cameroon.  A temporal structure and an executive bureau were initially put in place, followed by the creation of permanent structure with the amendment and adoption of the Statute on June 2, 2012. It happened simultaneously with the putting in place of an elected Executive Bureau which passed from five to seven members.

The Executive Bureau of the Cameroon Coalition for the ICC had as National Coordinator Barrister Roland ABEND of Aba – Africa Committee, with Barrister Eliezert NGUOPETSUO of Afrique Justice as Secretary General.  There were five other posts in the Bureau. The head office of the Cameroon Coalition of the ICC, or better still, the National Coalition of the ICC was in Yaounde.

 Unfulfilled Promises By Cameroon Gov’t

Meanwhile the National Coalition for the ICC in Cameroon has over the years struggled hard to persuade the Cameroon Government to ratify the Rome Statute of ICC, but till date the Biya Government has not done so. At one point the Africa Coordinator of the Coalition for the ICC visited Cameroon to support the efforts of the National Coalition for the ICC.  He was accompanied by the National Coordinator, Roland Abeng, and the Secretary General, Eliezert Nguopetsuo, to meet some senior Government officials, especially the Minister of External Relations, as his ministry is in fact the one charged with such a file. But as usual, all what the Government officials they met did was to repeat Government promises.

The fun with the Cameroon Government in this whole thing is that the Government has never said no. That is, the Cameroon Government never says that it does not want to ratify the Rome Treaty of the ICC.  Rather, Government officials always say that a decision will soon be taken or that Cameroon will ratify the Rome Statute soon, but then nothing happens.

Dependable sources in Government however whisper that some members of the regime close to President Biya, repeatedly scare him from accepting that Cameroon should ratify the Rome Statute of the ICC, with nightmarish stories that ICC may one day come after him for alleged crimes against humanity.  Some opposition parties in Cameroon as well as some local human rights organizations have also been amplifying the fear with allegations that Biya and some of his men will be charged for crimes against humanity.

Suffice to say from the look of things thus, one can say with some certainty that Cameroon will NOT ratify the Rome Statute of the ICC as long as the Biya regime or Government is in power.  Thus, Cameroon will only likely ratify the Rome Statute to become a member of the ICC, when the Biya regime will leave power.