2023-04-25 17:58:06
The ruling African National Congress (ANC) has ruled that the country should withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) following pressure to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin when he came to the BRICS summit in August, it said. said President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters following a meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, Ramaphosa said the ANC’s national executive committee had decided last weekend that South Africa should withdraw from the ICC until that the issue of bias in the handling of cases by the International Court is resolved.
“The ruling party, the ANC, took the decision that it was more prudent for South Africa to withdraw from the ICC, mainly because of the way the ICC deals with these types of issues,” said Mr Ramaphosa.
And to add: “We would like this issue of unfair treatment to be properly discussed, but in the meantime the ruling party has decided once once more that it is necessary to withdraw from the ICC, and this is a question which will be processed.
The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Mr Putin following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
There have been concerns, however, regarding the court’s bias in its handling of alleged war crimes cases, with similar acts committed by leaders of Western countries not facing the same charges.
The invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies in 2003, ostensibly in search of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) held by the government of former President Saddam Hussein, is an example of this.
No WMD was found, but the ICC took no action once morest then US President George W. Bush despite the war crimes committed by his invading forces.
While South Africa is a signatory to the Treaty of Rome, Russia and the United States have not adhered to it and are therefore not members of the Court.
This is not the first time that the International Court has pressured South Africa to arrest a head of state.
In 2015, Pretoria failed to comply with the ICC’s arrest warrant for former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, despite a local court order ordering his arrest.
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