"There was a mistake": South Africa denied plans to withdraw from the International Criminal Court

The office of the President of the Republic of South Africa stated that the country will not withdraw from the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant for the Russian dictator Putin. The statement came hours after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced such plans.

It was published on Wednesday, April 26, on the president's website. It says that South Africa "remains a signatory to the Rome Statute and will continue to campaign for equal and consistent application of international law.

Ramaphosa's press office explained that the announcement of the country's withdrawal from the ICC "was due to an error in a comment made during a media briefing by the governing African National Congress."

"Unfortunately, the president mistakenly endorsed a similar position during a press conference," the report said.

As previously reported, the ANC national executive committee decided to rescind its statement of withdrawal from the ICC.

Earlier, Kajal Ramjatan-Keog, head of the African branch of the International Commission of Jurists, wrote on her Twitter page that the withdrawal of a country from the ICC should take place in accordance with the procedure and be approved by Parliament. She later noted that, "Someone at the ANC mistakenly informed the president, although in fact the ANC had decided to cancel the withdrawal from the ICC".

South Africa began considering withdrawal from the ICC back in 2016 after a dispute over whether former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir should be arrested. However, the government recently suspended these proceedings due to legal obstacles.

As we know, the 15th summit of the BRICS (the union of five states: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will be held in the South African capital of Pretoria this August. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is also expected to attend. Legally, this country must execute an arrest warrant for the Russian president.

As reported by OBOZREVATEL, the speaker of the President of South Africa Magvenya said that the ICC arrest warrant for Putin "puts sticks in the wheels" of the summit of BRICS.

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