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South Africa threatens to leave ICC

The South African government has threatened to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC) after facing international criticism over the failure to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted on charges of genocide.

A cabinet meeting took place on Thursday, after which the government announced it was reviewing membership of the ICC "for a number of reasons". Stating that it was taking its international obligations "seriously", the government said it had "to balance its obligations to the ICC with its obligations to the AU and individual states".

Withdrawal from the ICC would be a "last resort", it added.

Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe, said “such a decision will only be taken when South Africa has exhausted all the remedies available to it”.

Mr Bashir, wanted on charges of war crimes and genocide, was allowed to attend an African Union summit in South Africa last week, despite having a warrant for his arrest. He then left the country by plane with the tacit approval of the South African government, despite a court ruling to the contrary.

The failure to arrest him sparked criticism from around the world, including from Sri Lanka, where South Africa is currently engaged in the island’s accountability process.

See our earlier posts:

SA court criticises government failure to detain al-Bashir (24 Jun 2015)

Civil society activists ‘outraged’ at South African failure to arrest Bashir (17 June 2015)

South Africa allows suspected war criminal al-Bashir to leave, despite court order (15 Jun 2015)

Arrest war crimes accused Sudanese president - TAG (15 June 2015)

ICC urges South Africa to arrest Sudan's President Bashir (14 June 2015)

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