South Africa withdraws notification of withdrawal from ICC

South Africa has withdrawn notification of its intention to withdraw from the International Criminal Court following a ruling by the country’s High Court.

The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) successfully argued that Parliament had to be consulted in order for the country to withdraw.

Justice Minister Michael Masutha will today address Parliament’s international relations committee about the High Court ruling.

Mr Mathusa announced the move to leave the ICC last year.

The decision was widely believed to be linked to a row that broke out after South African authorities failed to apprehend Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir during his visit to Johannesburg in 2015.

Mr Al-Bashir is wanted by the ICC, who issued two warrants of arrest against him in 2009 and 2010. He is facing seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity as well as three counts of genocide.

Last year, South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal rebuked the government for what Amnesty called a “failure to abide by its domestic and international obligations to arrest President Bashir and surrender him to the ” when he attended an African Union summit in 2015.