ANC wants to exit global Criminal Court

South Africa’s ruling party said on Sunday it wanted the country to withdraw from the worldwide Criminal Court, saying the court has lost direction and no longer fulfilled its mandate.

The decision was made at a meeting of the ruling party’s National General Council (NGC), said Obed Bapela, Head of the ANC’s worldwide Relations Commission.

“South Africa is obliged to adhere to the ICC’s decisions until we finalise our exit from the treaty”, du Plessis has said.

“We want the ICC to be reconstructed and restructured in such a way that it can be a global court that is fair for everybody”, said Bapela, who also chairs the party’s worldwide relations subcommittee.

Bashir is wanted by the ICC for alleged war crimes related to the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Asked whether the party’s stance on human rights issues was the same, Bapela responded: “South Africa still holds the flag for human rights”. Many members of the ANC believe the court disproportionately targets African leaders while overlooking violations by the United States and Israel.

South Africa’s government refused to arrest Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir, who has been indicted twice for war crimes and genocide by the ICC, when he visited Johannesburg on June 15 for an African Union summit.

South Africa said it would approach the political body of the ICC for clarity on how the immunity of serving heads of state that are not parties to the ICC’s Rome Statute – such as Sudan – should be handled.

Bapela said a national interest policy will be tabled in Parliament and will be fast tracked.

Trouble has been brewing between the ICC and the South African government, which has been run by the erstwhile-banned ANC for over two decades, after it faced severe criticism for ignoring a court order to arrest Sudan’s president earlier this year.

The al-Bashir saga is expected to re-emerge if he attends the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit, set for early December in Johannesburg.

“Many of these big countries are not members – the U.S. is not a signatory”.