Niger hands in formal request to quit ICC

Junta-ruled Niger has officially submitted its request to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Hague-based tribunal said on Tuesday, nine months after announcing the move alongside allies Mali and Burkina Faso.
The three Sahelian countries are all ruled by hardline military governments that came to power in coups between 2020 and 2023 and have turned their backs on the West.
They jointly announced their withdrawal from the ICC in September last year, calling the court an “instrument of neo-colonial repression in the hands of imperialism”.
In a statement sent to AFP on Tuesday, the ICC said it had received an “instrument of withdrawal” on June 18 from Niger, led ...