Whether it’s Libya, Ivory Coast, Mali or Central Africa Republic, France has positioned itself in the front line of conflicts across Africa in recent years. In many of these scenarios, the French helped to protect civilians. But as French President François Hollande hosts a summit this week on “peace and security” in Africa, he faces an even more difficult challenge: how to ensure that justice is done, impartially and consistently for crimes committed in these and other conflicts.
In Ivory Coast, French soldiers supported a UN mission that helped end protect residents caught in the crossfire between two warring factions. As for Libya, France took part in NATO operations that protected civilians from Gadaffi’s forces, even if the bombing ultimately went beyond the UN Security Council mandate. In Mali, France’s hasty intervention, coming when a UN operation was being prepared, likely prevented Islamist rebel groups from imposing their abusive brand of Islamic law beyond the northern areas already in their control. Now, in the Central African Republic, France is central to the international effort to help stop the violence against civilians by supporting the African peacekeeping forces present there.
These short-term impacts aside, the bigger challenge is how to prevent these conflicts from recurring. To that end, France should insist on the rule of law and ensure that those responsible for human rights abuses are held to account. This won’t be easy, but it is a crucial deterrent to future abuses.
In Mali, members of the army, as well as Tuareg separatists, also committed crimes. It’s important that they are also held to account alongside Islamist rebels. In Libya, France remains silent in the face of Tripoli’s refusal to hand over Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has demanded his transfer. In Ivory Coast, President Hollande has never publicly spoken of the fact that, since Alassane Ouattara was elected president, only supporters of former president Laurent Gbagbo have been arrested and indicted for crimes committed during the post-election crisis, this despite several of Ouattara’s military chiefs being implicated in atrocities.
François Hollande and the African heads of state should hail Senegal’s determination to try former Chadian dictator Hissène Habré before an African court. And with Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and the African Union currently calling on the ICC to suspend its legal actions against the president and vice president of Kenya, it is essential that France reassert its support for impartial national and international prosecutions of those accused of the most grievous abuses. One thing is certain: during this summit, any speech given in favor of justice will be well received by the African victims and citizens of this continent.
