Africa’s judiciary shone like a million stars in The Hague, the Netherlands, yesterday, when a Gambian, Mrs Fatou Bensouda, 50, became the first black person to head  International Criminal Court, ICC.

The emergence of Mrs Bensouda came against the fierce criticism from the African Union against the out-going chief prosecutor, Mr. Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

AU alleged that the Argentinian had been unfair to African leaders.

Mr. Moreno-Ocampo, whose nine-year term expires next year, was accused of selective justice by only investigating atrocities in Africa.

Bensouda was unanimously approved at a meeting of the legislative body of ICC, the Assembly of States Parties, ASP, in New York, yesterday. The AU lobbied intensely and endorsed the candidature of Bensouda.

AU Commission Chairman, Jean Ping, had, earlier this year, said: “Frankly speaking, we are not against the ICC. What we are against is Ocampo’s justice.”

Bensouda, a former senior legal adviser at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which is trying key figures responsible for the 1994 genocide, got the job ahead of three other short-listed candidates.

No fewer than four African leaders are appearing before ICC. Liberia’s Charles Taylor; Ivorian Laurent Gbagbo; Libya has refused to allow Saif Al Islam, son of its former leader, to appear before the ICC, and arrest warrant has been issued for Sudan’s Omar Al Bashir. All of them are accused of committing crimes against humanity.