South Arica to quit International Criminal Court

There are fears that more African nations could leave the war crimes court

Justice Minister Michael Masutha said that the government would draft a bill to repeal South Africa's adoption of the ICC's Rome Statute (AP)

South Africa is quitting the International Criminal Court (ICC) because membership conflicted with diplomatic immunity laws, dealing a new blow to the struggling court and angering the political opposition.

Pretoria signalled its intention to leave after the ICC criticised it for ignoring a court order to arrest Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who is accused of war crimes, when he visited. Mr Bashir has denied the accusations.

The ICC was not immediately available for comment, but the announcement puts new pressure on the world's first permanent war crimes court, which has had to fight off allegations of pursuing a neo-colonial agenda in Africa, where all but one of its 10 investigations have been based.

The announcement followed a similar decision by Burundi this week and was criticised by human rights groups that see the ICC as the best means of pursuing perpetrators of the world's worst atrocities. The treaty creating the court entered into force in 2002 after years of efforts by South Africa's post-apartheid government and others. Kenya's parliament is considering leaving the ICC.

No country has ever withdrawn from the ICC. Now, the debate over a mass African withdrawal is expected to be a “hot issue” at an African Union summit in January 2017, said Oryem Okello, deputy foreign minister of Uganda, a critic of the court.

“We think the matter is best decided as a bloc,” Mr Okello said.

South Africa's Justice Minister Michael Masutha said in Pretoria that the government would draft a bill to repeal South Africa's adoption of the ICC's Rome Statute in order to preserve its ability to conduct active diplomatic relations, and had given formal notice.

Parliament is likely to pass the bill. The ruling African National Congress party holds a majority of seats, and its parliament office welcomed the decision, saying “the ICC has allowed non-member states to dictate and interfere with its work to suit their own imperialist agendas.”

Mr Masutha said the statute conflicted with South Africa's Diplomatic Immunities and Privileges Act, but that the government remained committed to the fight against impunity.

The United Nations confirmed on Friday receipt of South Africa's withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, which will take effect one year from 19 October, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The instrument of withdrawal document has been assessed by the United Nations as bona fide and is being processed, Mr Dujarric said.

James Selfe, a senior executive in South Africa's main opposition Democratic Alliance, said the party would file a court application on Friday to set aside the plans “on the grounds that it is unconstitutional, irrational and procedurally flawed”.

Former South African judge Richard Goldstone, a respected figure in international justice and former chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, said quitting the ICC was “demeaning” to the country.

“From a moral standpoint, it detracts from the inspiring legacy of the administration of President Nelson Mandela that so strongly supported the ICC,” said Goldstone, chairman of the advisory board of the coalition for the ICC, which provides strategic guidance on key issues.

The court, which sits in The Hague and has 124 member states, is the first legal body with permanent international jurisdiction to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

But it has secured only five substantive verdicts in its 14-year history, all of them on African suspects, and several African countries have expressed concern that the continent is being picked on.

ICC spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said international support “in Africa and beyond” is necessary for the court “to fulfil its independent and impartial mandate” to prosecute perpetrators of genocide and other crimes.

In January, the African Union backed a proposal by Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta for officials of various member states to “develop a road map” on possible withdrawal from the Rome Statute. The decision was not legally binding as the final decision to leave the ICC would be taken by individual nations.

Adan Duale, leader of the majority in the Kenyan parliament, said impetus was building there to pass a bill on quitting the ICC that has been slowly making its way through the assembly.

Burundi's parliament voted last week to leave the court, although the United Nations has not yet been officially notified.

Mr Masutha said Pretoria would now drop its appeal to the Constitutional Court against a ruling that the state had made an error in letting Mr Bashir leave the country.

In June 2015, Mr Bashir, who was in Johannesburg for an African Union summit, was allowed to leave even though a court had ordered that he be kept in South Africa until the end of a hearing on whether he should be detained under a global arrest warrant.

The High Court ruled that he should have been arrested to face genocide charges at the ICC because, as a signatory of the Rome Statute, Pretoria was obliged to implement arrest warrants.

The government lost an appeal at the Supreme Court in March and the appeal to the Constitutional Court was its last chance of overturning the ruling.

Reuters and Associated Press