Leo Africanus / Africa is a Country

Earlier today, Omar Al-Bashir, the Sudanese President became the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague in the Netherlands for crimes against humanity in his country’s Darfur Province. We’ll hear the predictable positions from Sudan’s government and the major Western powers of course–the former against the indictment, the former in favor. Is this the right course? What do other voices think outside these two bubbles think? What is stake here? What about what this means for the US occupation of Iraq (despite the fact that the United States is not a signatory to the Court) or former dictators like Pervez Musharaf or human rights abuses by countries like Sri Lanka, Russia in Chechnya, Saudi Arabia’s ruling family, or Israel in Gaza? We have to start somewhere.