Chad said Monday it intends to pull out of the International Criminal Court, arguing the tribunal has not delivered fair results and has focused too heavily on Africa.
The announcement puts Chad in line with three other Sahel nations. In September, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger said together that they would leave the ICC, the court based in The Hague that tries people for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
A government spokesperson said N’Djamena reached the decision after reviewing the ICC’s work since it started in 2002. The statement called the court’s impact “limited and uneven” across regions.
Officials pointed to the numbers. Of 13 investigations launched by the ICC, nine have been in African countries. The other four were outside Africa but, according to Chad, have seen no real progress. The government also noted that of seven people currently in ICC custody, six are linked to African cases.
The timing also drew attention to US involvement. According to a statement posted last week on the foreign ministry’s website, the US deputy secretary of state for African affairs spoke with Chadian officials on Thursday and urged them to rethink their membership. The US side raised concerns about how the institution operates and asked Chad to review its commitment to the Rome Statute.
The move comes as Chad faces scrutiny over alleged ties to the fighting in neighboring Sudan, with both local and international groups raising questions.
Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are all led by military governments that took power in coups between 2020 and 2023. When they announced their exit, they described the ICC as a tool of “neo-colonial repression” used by imperial powers.
With Chad now signaling the same path, four countries in the region are set to leave the court that was created to hold individuals accountable for the world’s most serious crimes.
