Mugabe and Zanu PF escape ICC Trial on Gukurahundi Massacres

COLOGNE - President Robert Mugabe and his top lieutenants in Zanu PF are all but going to get away with murder and evade arraignment before the International Criminal Court (ICC), for their alleged role in the sadistic Gukurahundi Massacres meted on innocent women and children in Matabeleland a few years after Independence in 1980, Spotlight Zimbabwe has revealed.

Gukurahundi, which is Shona for "the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains", was a horrendous genocide operation carried out by the army's elite Fifth Brigade regiment trained by North Korea between 1983 and 1987, and it remains the darkest period in the country's post-independence history, where more than 20,000 civilians lost their lives.

Mugabe has described the period as "a moment of madness", and his administration has in recent times promised to help affected families in Matabeleland and Midlands to rebury their relatives, who died during the tragedy. Others close to Mugabe who have been accused of involvement, include vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was Intelligence minister at the time, and Perence Shiri, then Commander of the 5th Brigade, and now the Air force of Zimbabwe boss.

In e-mail communication this week, the ICC in the Hague told Spotlight Zimbabwe, that it can only investigate crimes committed after July 2002, which means Gukurahundi crimes fall outside the purview of that window.

"The Court can only investigate and prosecute crimes committed after July 1, 2002, in accordance with the strict jurisdictional rules established by its founding treaty, the Rome Statute,"reads part of the mail.

Furthermore, Harare has not ratified the Rome Statute, thus the ICC has no jurisdiction in Zimbabwe. "The ICC can only conduct investigations and prosecutions in a situation where it has jurisdiction.  The ICC does not have jurisdiction over the situation in Zimbabwe.  Zimbabwe is not a State Party to the Rome Statute of the ICC," the Hague said.

"Under the Rome Statute, the primary responsibility to investigate and prosecute atrocity crimes falls on the state(s) concerned. Even in instances where the Court has jurisdiction, it will only investigate and prosecute cases where the states themselves are unwilling or unable to investigate or prosecute those crimes. When the ICC Office of the Prosecutor does act in accordance with its jurisdiction, it does so strictly in accordance with the law and on the basis of the evidence collected. All the activities of the Office of the Prosecutor and the Court are undertaken with complete independence and impartiality."

Also coming to Mugabe and his inner henchmen as sweet music, is an indication last week by former prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, that he is prepared to grant a soft landing to Mugabe and ensure that he will not suffer retribution or end up being hauled before the courts for the human rights violations committed during his reign of over three decades.

Mugabe in December 2006, said he does not fear facing the ICC on charges of crimes against humanity, in Harare during an exclusive interview with the Canadian television station OMNI.

"No, I have no fear of any kind, none at all (facing the Hague)," said Mugabe at the time. "I don't see any outsider come here to arrest us, what for? It would amount to interference in our domestic affairs, and this is what we have resisted all long."

Human rights activists have argued that Mugabe's failure to ratify the Rome Statute does not necessarily protect him, and that a new government in Harare could accept the court's jurisdiction immediately and ask it to investigate him.