Overview
- The three juntas issued a joint AES communiqué announcing their departure "with immediate effect" as an assertion of sovereignty.
- They denounced the court as an instrument of neo‑colonial repression and faulted its record on prosecuting grave crimes.
- The governments say they will build "endogenous" justice mechanisms, including a proposed Sahelian criminal court.
- Legal effect hinges on a formal filing in New York, and any withdrawal would take hold one year after that step under the Rome Statute.
- The move comes as the AES states battle jihadist insurgencies and face allegations against their own militaries, alongside a broader turn from Western partners toward alternatives such as Russia.