African sworn in as ICC chief prosecutor in The Hague

Former Gambian justice minister,Fatou Bensouda, has been sworn in as the International Criminal Court's new chief prosecutor in The Hague.

Ms Bensouda becomes the first African to hold the post.

She is taking over from Argentinian Luis Moreno Ocampo, who is stepping down after nearly a decade in office.

Ms Bensouda's earliest priorities will be bringing Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the late Libyan leader, to justice and overseeing the ICC's first trial of a former
head of state, when the Ivory Coast's ex-President Laurent Gbagbo appears in court.

Liberia's former leader, Charles Taylor, was tried by a UN-backed court trying those responsible for the atrocities during Sierra Leone's civil war.

At the swearing-in ceremony in The Hague, Ms Bensouda praised the work conducted by her predecessor and promised to make the victims of crime her priority.

The fact that all the suspects wanted or currently on trial at the ICC are African has come in for criticism, with the prosecutor's office often accused of unfairly
targeting the continent.

It is hoped that because Ms Bensouda is herself an African lawyer, this could help to silence those critics, our reporter says.

In March, Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga received the first verdict reached by the court since it was set up 10 years ago.

The prosecution team have asked for a 30-year sentence after he was convicted of recruiting and using child soldiers between 2002 and 2003 in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

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