nngu007
JF-Expert Member
- Aug 2, 2010
- 15,862
- 5,797
By In2EastAfrica
http://in2eastafrica.net/arusha-hopes-to-benefit-from-‘court-tourism’/print/
The court, the equivalent to the European Court of Human Rights, is also set to issue an international arrest warrant against Gadaffi and his cronies, should they not appear and / or be represented to offer a defense. The court action was reportedly being initiated by the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and while both institutions were set up by the African Union, it is intriguing to note that the AU sponsored visit by South Africas president Zuma, and his utterances made while in Libya recently ostensibly to mediate but visibly intent to come to the aid of his fellow brother and leader appears to be in stark contrast with the courts decision to prosecute Gadaffi.
When or rather if the case goes ahead, should the International Criminal Court in The Hague not supersede any action in Arusha, the safari capital of East Africa can expect a boost by Libyan travelers coming to attend court and likely booking up all the suites in town, going by the regimes and Gadaffis known travel habits. His travels to African Union events were often marked by the arrival of hundreds of security personnel, dozens of hangers on flown to the venue with a fleet of Gadaffis aircraft, and some sources in Arusha are already hoping for a resulting business boom, when the case kicks off. However, there is no guarantee that either Gadaffi, or any of his cronies implicated in the violence in Libya, will voluntarily appear in court, and should the people of Libya get their hands on him, instant justice a la Ceausescu is the more likely outcome, though this would of course rob Arusha of a travel boom of lawyers, the media and the accuseds entourage.