Lagos, Nigeria - Ahead of this weekend's African Union (AU) summit, over 30 civil society organizations from about 20 African countries have written to African member countries of the International Criminal Court (ICC), urging their renewed support for the court’s efforts to combat grave international crimes.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), monitored by PANA in Lagos Friday, the letter was sent ahead of the 18th summit of the AU, which will take place on 29-30 Jan. in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The organizations wrote that it was of crucial importance for African governments and the AU to provide concrete support for the ICC, particularly given the challenges facing the court and the current focus of its investigations in Africa.

African countries should work toward improved relations between the ICC and the AU, enforce the court’s decisions, respect their obligations under the ICC Statute, and support prosecutions of international crimes before their national courts.

The election of a highly qualified African, Ms. Fatou Bensouda, as the new ICC prosecutor, was a positive development, the organizations said.

“The ICC needs full cooperation from states to effectively curb impunity for the worst international crimes,” said Oby Nwankwo, Executive Director of the Civil Resource Development and Document Centre in Nigeria. “It is high time African governments and
the AU put themselves on the right side of history and support justice for victims, not abusive leaders.”

Pana 27/01/2012