ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- African countries should actively utilize continental justice organs to find appropriate and timely justice, an AU official said on Saturday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 30th AU Summit in Ethiopia, Richard Ssewakiryanga, Presiding Officer at the AU Economic, Social and Cultural Council (AU ECOSOCC), said citizens of African countries should utilize justice bodies like the African Court on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR) based in Arusha, Tanzania instead of often looking to justice institutions from outside Africa.

Operational since 2008, ACHPR works to ensure the protection of human and peoples' rights in Africa.

"Another example the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which recently successfully concluded prosecuting suspects in the 1994 genocide, shows African justice systems do work," said Ssewakiryanga.

His comments were implicitly directed at the International Criminal Court (ICC), based in Hague, Netherlands and functional since 2002.

The ICC has been accused of disproportionately focusing on alleged crimes committed in African countries by Africans, while failing to prosecute alleged crimes committed by western countries in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.