The International Criminal Court’s (icc) supposed “neo-colonialism” has been the focus of much discussion based on the fact that the Court’s Prosecutor has been almost exclusively interested in cases dealing with the African continent. This paper will try to go beyond the issue of a neo-colonialism as seen exclusively through a critique of the over-representation of African indictees. It argues that if there is a form of neo-colonialism at work it is down to more subtle post-colonial treatment of Africa through the categories of international criminal justice. One needs to situate the relationship between international criminal justice and Africa within a “temps long” of the introduction of modern penal thought and practices on the continent from colonization to the construction of the post-colonial state, particularly as seen in the exclusion/instrumentalization/hybridization of forms of traditional justice.