(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
African leaders have called for a delay in next month's scheduled trial of Kenya's president at the International Criminal Court.
And they say if this doesn't happen, then he should not attend hearings at the court in the Dutch city of The Hague.
The statements follow a special sitting of the African Union in Ethiopia, called amid claims that the court has been unfairly targeting Africans, and largely ignoring crimes committed elsewhere in the world.
Santilla Chingaipe has the details.
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The calls by the African Union leaders challenge the International Criminal Court as it conducts its most high-profile case to date - its first trial of a sitting president.
Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta, along with his deputy William Ruto, are accused of crimes against humanity following the country's post-election violence in 2007.
More than 1000 people died and 600,000 others were forced from their homes in that violence.
While Mr Ruto's trial is already underway, Mr Kenyatta's trial is set to start in a month.
Both deny all charges against them.
African leaders meeting at the summit in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa have accused the court of having double standards.
They've pointed out that since its establishment more than a decade ago, the ICC has only charged Africans.
Ethiopia's Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the meeting that the ICC has become a political instrument.
"Unfortunately, the manner in which the court has been operating, particularly its unfair treatment of African and Africans, leaves much to be desired. Far from promoting justice and reconciliation, and contributing to the advancement of peace and stability in our continent, the court has transformed itself into a political instrument targeting Africa and Africans. This unfair and unjust treatment is totally unacceptable. And that's why we have been expressing our serious concerns against the ICC."
African leaders meeting in Addis Ababa unanimously called for immunity from prosecution for any sitting head of state or government.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn read out the resolution.
"We have resolved that no serving AU head of state or government or anybody acting or entitled to act in such capacity shall be required to appear before any international court or tribunal during his term of office."
Mr Hailemariam says the Rome Statute, which set up the ICC, allows for delays in prosecutions.
"We have also agreed that Kenya should send a letter to the UN Security Council requesting for deferral in conformity with article 16 of the Rome Statute of the presiding against the President and the Deputy President of Kenya that would be endorsed by all African state parties."
Of the 54 African countries, 34 are members of the ICC, which was set up in 2002 to deal with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
So far, the ICC has convicted only one person, Democratic Republic of Congo warlord, Thomas Lubanga.
The court is currently investigating cases in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Sudan, Kenya, Libya, Mali and Ivory Coast.
Other Africans to be indicted by the Court include former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi as well as Joseph Kony, the leader of the rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army.
It has issued an arrest warrant for the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir over alleged genocide and war crimes in Darfur.
There had been widespread speculation ahead of the talks in Addis Ababa that the leaders would consider calling on African nations to completely withdraw support from the court.
Rights groups have urged African nations to keep supporting the court, saying it's vital to ending what they see as a culture of impunity in Africa.
High profile African leaders like former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have also expressed their concerns about African nations withdrawing support.
Writing in a South African newspaper, Archbishop Tutu dismissed the argument by the leaders that the court is racist.
"So while the rhetoric of leaders at the AU may play both the race and colonial cards, the facts are clear. Far from being a so-called "white man's witch hunt", the ICC could not be more African if it tried. Twenty African countries helped to found the ICC. Of 108 nations that initially joined it, 30 are in Africa. Five of the court's 18 judges are African, as is the vice-president of the court. The chief prosecutor of the court, who has huge power over which cases are brought forward, is from Africa. The ICC is, quite literally, Africa's court."
Until now, Kenya's President Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto have both said they would co-operate with the ICC to clear their names.
Should they fail to turn up for any ICC hearings, the court could trigger arrest warrants.
