ICC entreat Guinea-Bissau Membership

**The president of the International Criminal Court urges Guinea-Bissau to become a member as proof of the unstable West African nation's commitment to peace. **

ICC President Piotr Hofmanski told reporters he had come to request the former Portuguese colony to sign the Rome Statute, which is the court's founding treaty.

Hofmanski who was accompanied by Matias Hellman, ICC External Relations Advisor, told the reporters, "We now have 123 member states of the International Criminal Court, including almost all members of ECOWAS, except Togo and Guinea-Bissau, all the others are members. The President, Judge Hofmanski, explained that the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is a signal of commitment to peace, security, and the rule of law."

Guinea-Bissau is notoriously unstable and has suffered four military coups since 1974, it's most recent in 2012. A failed coup attempt in February left 11 people dead. All said and done, President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, without giving much detail promised to consider the request, of the ICC.

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