Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger Quit ICC, Cite “Selective Justice”

Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have announced their withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC), deepening their collective shift away from international institutions. In a joint statement released Monday, the three countries—now operating under the Alliance of Sahel States (AES)—accused the court of practicing “selective justice” and failing to prosecute proven cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and aggression.

The ICC, headquartered in The Hague, has been investigating Mali since 2013 for alleged war crimes in regions once controlled by insurgents, including Gao, Timbuktu, and Kidal. Despite this, the AES leaders—Mali’s Assimi Goïta, Niger’s Abdourahamane Tchiani, and Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Traoré—said the court had instead become an “instrument of neocolonial repression in the hands of imperialism.”

Withdrawal from the ICC does not take immediate effect. Under international law, it becomes official one year after formal notification is submitted to the United Nations secretary-general. In the meantime, the AES states have pledged to establish their own “indigenous mechanisms for the consolidation of peace and justice.”

The decision comes as Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger continue to struggle with armed insurgencies that have left large parts of their territories under militant control. It also follows their coordinated exit from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) last year, underscoring their growing alignment in opposition to regional and international bodies they view as undermining their sovereignty.