President Pierre Nkurunziza signed a decree on Tuesday for Burundi to quit the ICC, after parliament voted overwhelmingly last week to remove the country from the court's jurisdiction. On October 12, only two lawmakers voted in favour of staying under the jurisdiction of the Dutch-based ICC, while 94 voted against and 14 abstained. Read: Burundi plans to withdraw from ICCAlso read: Burundi parliament overwhelmingly votes to leave ICC amid violenceIn April, the ICC opened a preliminary investigation into Burundi, focusing on killings, imprisonment, torture, rape and other sexual violence, as well as enforced disappearances. The ICC said in April that political violence had killed about 450 people and forced hundreds of thousands to flee. The decree signed by Nkurunziza, published in the presidency's website, said the decision would "come into immediate effect".

Source: The Star October 19, 2016 15:33 UTC