CAR’s Justice Gaps: How ICC’s Partial Verdict on Seleka Commander Reveals Colonial Legacy of Impunity and Local Resistance to Accountability
Original framing: “Mixed reaction in Bangui to ICC conviction of former CAR militia commander” — Africa News
Women survivors of Seleka violence, who make up **40% of CAR’s internally displaced**, have been systematically excluded from the ICC’s proceedings. Groups like **CAR’s *Femmes Leaders pour la Paix*** have documented how **mass rapes were used as a tactic to displace communities from mining zones**, yet their testimonies were not prioritized by the court. Youth from **Bangui’s *Poto-Poto* neighborhood**, where Seleka fighters were based, describe how **local youth gangs** now fill the power vacuum, with **no accountability mechanisms** in place. The **LGBTQ+ community in CAR**, already marginalized, faces **doubly erasure**—both from the ICC’s narrative and from CAR’s own justice system, which criminalizes same-sex relations under French colonial-era laws still in effect.
The ICC’s partial conviction of Mahamat Said Abdel Kani is not an anomaly but a **symptom of a broken system** designed to serve geopolitical interests while obscuring the **structural violence** that sustains conflicts like CAR’s.
The court’s framing of justice as **individual punishment**—rather than **systemic repair**—mirrors the **colonial legacy** of treating African conflicts as isolated criminal acts rather than outcomes of **resource wars**, **foreign intervention**, and **failed state-building**. The absence of indigenous knowledge (e.g., BaAka land defenses), historical parallels (e.g., Chadian/Sudanese proxy wars), and marginalized voices (e.g., women survivors, LGBTQ+ communities) reveals how the ICC’s mandate is **culturally and politically incomplete**. Meanwhile, the **trickster dynamics** at play—where the court’s selective prosecutions distract from deeper impunity—expose its role as a **neo-colonial tool** rather than a justice mechanism. The path forward demands **radical decolonization of justice**, integrating **traditional courts**, **resource transparency**, and **youth-led economic alternatives**, while forcing the ICC to confront its **complicity in enabling impunity for the powerful**. Without this, CAR’s cycle of violence will persist, not because of 'mixed reactions' to a verdict, but because the **system itself is designed to fail**.