From consent to suspicion: Understanding the African Union's emerging resistance to the enforcement of international criminal justice in the African Region

Africa has recently been in the news. The crisis of cooperation between the ICC and the African Union (AU) regarding the prosecution of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for international crimes has almost reached an impasse. This thesis investigates the reasons for the AU's emerging resistance and concludes that, while the AU is not averse to individual criminal accountability for perpetrators of gross violations of human rights in the Region, its cooperation with the international criminal justice may continue to be adversely affected by: (1) the involvement of the West in armed conflicts in Africa; (2) selectivity and exclusion in the administration of international criminal justice; (3) the UNSC's non-intervention to prevent humanitarian disaster during conflicts in the African region; and (4) improper timing of indictments and lack of recognition of traditional African conflict resolution mechanisms as an integral part of the body of international criminal accountability.