Considering that the 67th ordinary session of the OAU Council of Ministers, meeting at Addis Ababa in February 1998, adopted the Dakar Declaration on an International Criminal Court;

Considering that the 34th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU, meeting at Ouagadougou in June 1998, also adopted the Dakar Declaration on an International Criminal Court;

Considering that around 43 States Members of the OAU participated in the Diplomatic Conference on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Rome, June / July 1998, and that African countries supported the creation of a permanent, independent, impartial and effective ICC;

Considering that the statute of the ICC was adopted at Rome on 16 July 1998 by 120 states, of which more than 40 were African Countries;

Considering that 19 African states have signed the statute, demonstrating the will of African countries to create an effective ICC;

Considering the serious and troubling situation of human rights in Africa, especially in zones of armed conflict, and taking note of the universal consensus to end impunity for crimes which shock the conscience of humanity;

CALLS ON all States Parties to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to carry out all the appropriate constitutional procedures to sign and ratify the Rome treaty on the International Criminal Court; and

INVITES THEM to take all necessary legislative and administrative steps to bring national laws and policies into conformity with the statute.

Banjul, 31st October 1998.