ARUSHA VIES TO BECOME 'THE HAGUE OF AFRICA'

 
The African Foundation for International Law says it is keen to see Arusha becoming an important judicial centre for Africa through setting up a high level training centre for lawyers.

"We feel we are indebted to train legal practitioners who can defend and protect the economic interests of the African countries",said Judge Abdulqawi A. Yusuf, the chairman of the foundation's executive committee. 

He said in The Hague, the capital of The Netherlands recently that the  launching of the African Institute for International Law in Arusha was just the beginning of a process to raise the town's status in the legal matters internationally.

The institute has already swung into action with a series of tailor-made courses with high demand in the continent including bilateral investment treaties and arbitration, targeting senior government officials, law lecturers and practising lawyers.

Next month, the young institute will hold a dialogue on human rights and judiciary in Africa to acquaint supreme court judges from the African countries with international instruments on human rights, the United Nations Conventions and the African Charter.

This would be followed with another one towards the end of the year for legal practitioners in Africa on the drafting on the natural resources contracts in the extractive industries; oil,gas and minerals.

"I thought this  (training on lawyers on gas contracts) would be very ideal for Tanzania", remarked Judge Yusuf, who is also the Vice President of the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial arm of the United Nations based in The Hague.

The newly-launched institute, hosted at the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC), will next year embark on programmes on territorial disputes as well as international criminal law and litigation.

According to its rector Ambassador Sani Mohamed, the institute was launched after realization that Arusha, being the hub of many continental judicial  institutions lacked an educational centre to impart legal skills, particularly in the field of international law.

Principal judicial institutions in town include the East African Court of Justice (EACJ), the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the African Court on Human and People's Rights (AfCHPR).

The latter will soon be merged with the African Court of Justice while ICTR will be replaced with the UN Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (UN-MICT) after finally closing shop in September this year.

Without giving details,Judge Yusuf said the government of Tanzania has already promised to provide land for the construction of the permanent premises of the training institute on the outskirts of Arusha.

He said in an exclusive interview that he was convinced the growth of Arusha can be modelled on The Hague; the Dutch capital which currently hosts a number of judicial bodies in the world, including the famous International Criminal Court (ICC).

The African Foundation for International Law is a network of African international lawyers formed in 2003 in Geneva. It is legally established in The Hague to promote the direction, teaching and use of international law for peaceful means in Africa.