Prominent African leaders, legal experts, and civil society activists have criticized the International Criminal Court (ICC) for failing to meet expectations of impartial and equitable justice, particularly in addressing historical colonial crimes.
The concerns were raised at an international roundtable in Bamako, Mali, themed “Colonial Crimes: It’s Time for Compensation.” The event focused on Africa’s longstanding demand for reparations from former colonial powers and the lack of effective legal mechanisms to secure justice through the ICC.
Participants argued that the ICC, established to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, has consistently failed to address Africa’s historical grievances and continues to be perceived as biased in its operations.
The roundtable highlighted the urgent need to calculate economic damages caused by colonial exploitation and establish legal frameworks for reparations.
Chairman of the National Transitional Council Commission on Agriculture, Mohamed Ousmane Haidara, stressed that Africa has suffered centuries of systematic economic exploitation, resource theft, and social disintegration, which have left lasting developmental scars.
Similarly, Ousseynou Ouattara, Vice Chairman of the National Transitional Council Commission on Security, said that beyond political independence, African nations deserve economic justice. “The ICC has shown little willingness to push former colonial powers toward accountability, making it clear that Africa must look inward to demand compensation,” he said.
Legal scholar Youssouf Coulibaly emphasized that colonial crimes should be classified as crimes against humanity and prosecuted accordingly. He called for the establishment of an African-led legal mechanism to pursue reparations and address historical injustices.
The President of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Modibo Sacko, suggested that Africa should strengthen its regional legal institutions to provide credible justice. He stressed that the African Court could play a pivotal role in advancing reparations claims if adequately empowered and supported by African governments.
Other speakers, including historian Amadou Diaw, journalist and author Daouda Naman Tékété, and Assane Seye, co-founder of the Pan African International Organisation (OIP), criticized what they described as the ICC’s “selective justice.”
Tékété argued that Africa’s experience with the ICC has been one-sided, with African leaders and citizens disproportionately targeted while Western nations and former colonial powers remain shielded from accountability.
The conference underscored that the fight for reparations would require a united African voice and strong political will. Participants agreed on the need for coordinated legal and diplomatic strategies to demand compensation, pointing to successful precedents where other nations, such as Germany’s reparations to Namibia, have been pressured into acknowledging historical wrongs.
Haidara urged African governments to back civil society initiatives pushing for reparations, while Seye advocated for stronger Pan-African solidarity to “rewrite the narrative of Africa’s economic history.”
The criticisms echo long-standing concerns over the ICC’s credibility in Africa. Many African Union (AU) member states have accused the Court of operating with a double standard, focusing on African cases while ignoring similar violations by powerful nations.
Legal analysts believe this growing discontent could further push African nations to support the Malabo Protocol, which expands the jurisdiction of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights to include crimes such as colonialism and illicit financial flows.
Participants concluded by calling for the establishment of a continental reparations task force to document colonial-era crimes, assess economic losses, and build legal cases for compensation.
The conference’s resolutions are expected to be presented to the African Union in the coming months as part of a renewed push for economic and historical justice for Africa.