{"id":4024,"date":"2011-12-01T18:35:44","date_gmt":"2011-12-01T18:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/12\/gambia-woman-to-be-icc-prosecutor\/"},"modified":"2011-12-01T18:35:44","modified_gmt":"2011-12-01T18:35:44","slug":"gambia-woman-to-be-icc-prosecutor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/01\/gambia-woman-to-be-icc-prosecutor\/","title":{"rendered":"Gambia woman to be ICC prosecutor"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 December 2011<\/span> Last updated at<\/span> 18:35 GMT<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"FatouFatou Bensouda is currently the deputy chief prosecutor at the ICC<\/span><\/div>\n

Fatou Bensouda is set to be named the new International Criminal Court chief prosecutor, diplomats say.<\/p>\n

The 50-year-old lawyer from The Gambia serves as the deputy to Luis Moreno-Ocampo, whose term ends next year.<\/p>\n

She previously worked as a legal adviser at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Tanzania.<\/p>\n

The ICC’s cases are currently all in Africa, and some of the continent’s leaders have accused it of only pursuing Africans.<\/p>\n

A successor to Luis Moreno-Ocampo will be formally elected by the Assembly of States Parties – the body representing the 119 countries that support the tribunal – at its annual meeting in New York on 12 December.<\/p>\n

However, the president of the ASP, Liechtenstein’s UN ambassador Christian Wenaweser, says she is now the only candidate.<\/p>\n

It had been agreed that Mr Ocampo’s successor should be an African and the only other candidate, Tanzania’s Mohamed Chande Othman, is said to have withdrawn.<\/p>\n

“I will recommend to the [12 December] meeting that, based on my consultations, we go forward with a single candidate, Fatou Bensouda,” Mr Wenaweser told Reuters news agency by telephone.<\/p>\n

The ICC, based in The Hague, is the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal and began operating in 2002.<\/p>\n

Ms Bensouda told the AFP news agency that she was working for the victims of Africa. “That’s where I get my inspiration and my pride,” she said.<\/p>\n

African cases<\/span><\/p>\n

Nine years after the court came into being it still has not secured a conviction.<\/p>\n

The ICC is currently holding suspects in custody who are accused of committing atrocities in the following countries:<\/p>\n