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abujagirl
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The African Union(AU) says the continental body will not allow a sitting head of state to be prosecuted by an international tribunal.
The AU leaders, meeting in Addis Ababa, agreed to back immunity for any sitting African head of state.
According to BBC, the body also asked Kenya to write to the UN Security Council seeking a deferral in the International Criminal Court (ICC) case against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who faces charges of crimes against humanity.
Thirty-four of the AU's 54 members have signed up to the ICC. The AU had discussed withdrawing from the ICC, but failed to get support.
Senior figures including Kofi Annan have criticized plans to quit the ICC.
Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said that withdrawing from the court would be a "badge of shame".
Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu has also voiced his support for the ICC.
"Those leaders seeking to skirt the court are effectively looking for a license to kill, maim and oppress their own people without consequence,"he wrote in an article carried by several newspapers.
"They simply vilify the institution as racist and unjust, as Hermann Goering and his fellow Nazi defendants vilified the Nuremberg tribunals following World War II."
Kenya's parliament has already passed a motion for the country to withdraw.