Assembly/AU/11 (XIII) Annex II Page 11   in question to prosecute and ensure that the suspect be tried, on behalf of Africa, by a competent court of that state, with guarantees for fair trial.68 20. It is worth noting that the commitment on the part of AU Member States to fighting impunity for serious crimes of international concern, clearly signalled in the Constitutive Act of the African Union and subsequent AU resolutions,69 has also been given practical effect by means other than the exercise of universal jurisdiction. When genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes take place within an African state’s own territory, there is no need for that state to rely on universal jurisdiction in order to prosecute the perpetrators: trials can take place on the basis of territorial jurisdiction. It is on the basis of territoriality that thirtyfour former officials of the Derg regime, including former head of state Mengistu Haile-Mariam, and twenty-four former members were prosecuted in the Ethiopian courts for, among other things, genocide.70 Similarly, the national courts of Rwanda have dealt with acts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed on Rwandan territory since 1 October 1990. For its part, Uganda is currently in the process of establishing a special division of the High Court to try persons suspected of having committed ‘serious crimes’ during the conflict between the government and the Lord’s Resistance Army/Movement.71 When it comes to addressing serious crimes of international concern on their territory, some African states have opted for alternative justice mechanisms, the most prominent72 among these being the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, instituted as a response to the crime against humanity of apartheid, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Sierra Leone, which has dealt with those serious crimes of international concern committed during that country’s civil war which were not the subject of prosecution before the Special Court for                                                              68 Decision Assembly/AU/Dec. 127(VII), 2 July 2006. The Assembly reiterated this decision in Decision Assembly/AU/Dec. 240(XII), 4 February 2009. 69 See Constitutive Act of the African Union 2000, article 4(h); Decision on the Report of the Commission on the Abuse of the Principle of Universal Jurisdiction, Decision Assembly/AU/Dec. 199(XI), 1 July 2008, paragraph 3; Decision on the Hissène Habré Case, Decision Assembly/AU/Dec. 240(XII), 4 February 2009; and Decision on the Implementation of the Assembly Decision on the Abuse of the Principle of Universal Jurisdiction, Decision Assembly/AU/Dec. 213(XII), 4 February 2009, paragraph 3. 70 All bar one of the defendants was convicted by the Federal High Court on 12 December 2006. Mengistu, among others, was tried in absentia. Following an appeal by the prosecution against the life sentence imposed on him, Mengistu was sentenced to death on 26 May 2008. He currently enjoys asylum in another African state. Note that the definition of genocide applied by the Ethiopian courts does not correspond to that found in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 1948 and customary international law, in that it encompasses the destruction of political groups. 71 See Annexure of 19 February 2008 to the Agreement of 29 June 2007 on Accountability and Reconciliation between the Government of the Republic of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army/Movement (‘the Juba Agreement’), articles 7 to 9. Articles 10 to 14 envisage the establishment of a unit for carrying out investigations and prosecutions in support of trials and other formal proceedings. In accordance with article 14, prosecutions shall focus on individuals alleged to have planned or carried out widespread, systematic or serious attacks directed against civilians or to have committed grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. 72 Other such bodies include the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the National Reconciliation Commission of Ghana, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia, and the Equity and Reconciliation Commission of Morocco. A Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission is currently being established in Kenya. Articles 4 to 6 of the Annexure to the Juba Agreement envisage the creation of an analogous body in Uganda. Version 31 March 09(FINAL)