The African Union has called on the International Criminal Court to stop criminal proceedings against sitting African presidents, urging AU member states to "speak with one voice" against the ICC.


The 54-nation organization made the remarks in a statement issued on Saturday following a summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa attended by 34 leaders.

The African Union said the United Nations Security Council disappointed it by not disregarding its request to defer the trials of African leaders.

The African body has sought the deferral of criminal proceedings against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto.

The ICC has charged Bashir with committing genocide during Sudan's seven-year conflict in Darfur while the Kenyan leaders face charges of crimes against humanity for allegedly inciting post-election violence that left over 1,000 people dead in late 2007. All men deny the charges.

One African Union member, Botswana, opposed the stand taken by the AU against the ICC.

"African states parties should comply with African Union decisions on the ICC and continue to speak with one voice," the statement said, adding, "There is an imperative need for all member states to ensure that they adhere to and articulate commonly agreed positions."

African leaders have recently strongly criticized the ICC, accusing it of racism in indicting only African leaders. Some African countries have also threatened to sever ties with the court.

Every year, the African Union convenes two summits, one in January and another in June.

During the summit in Addis Ababa, African Union leaders discussed ways to end two spiraling conflicts in the continent -- the conflict in the Central African Republic and the ongoing violence in South Sudan.

The leaders stated that urgent solutions are needed to prevent South Sudan and the Central African Republic from falling into the abyss.

More than 1,000 people have been killed in the Central African Republic since Christian militias launched coordinated attacks against the mostly Muslim Seleka group, which toppled the government last March.

Amnesty International has warned of the potential of large-scale killing in the northwest of the country. France has deployed troops to its former colony, claiming the measure was taken to end the bloody conflict.

In South Sudan, the fighting between troops of President Salva Kiir, who is from the Dinka ethnic group, and his former deputy, Riek Machar, a Nuer, erupted around Juba on December 15, 2013.

The conflict soon turned into an all-out war between the army and defectors, with the violence taking on an ethnic dimension that pitted the president’s tribe against Machar's.

The International Crisis Group said on January 9 that about 10,000 people had been killed in the violence.