South Africa asked to appear at ICC over 2015 failure to arrest visiting al-Bashir
South Africa has been requested to appear at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on April 7 over its failure to arrest Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir during his visit to the country two years ago, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Ayesha Johaar, the acting chief state law adviser, said Pretoria was asked to appear at the Hague-based court for failing to comply with a cooperation request from the tribunal, contrary to the provisions of the treaty establishing the court and which came into force in 2002.
“It concerns an order of non-compliance by South Africa as a member state of the ICC and Sudan’s president,” she said.
South Africa announced its plans to withdraw from the ICC in 2015 after the tribunal criticized it for disregarding an order to arrest Al-Bashir, who is wanted for war crimes and genocide. Bashir has however denied the allegations.
South Africa’s High Court last month blocked the government’s attempt to withdraw from the ICC.
But Justice Minister Michael Masutha said the government would press ahead with withdrawing from the Hague-based tribunal, noting that the ruling was based largely on procedure – that the decision to pull out did not pass first through parliament.
To comply with part of the court order, Pretoria has formally revoked its withdrawal from the ICC.
