In a press conference, South African President Ramaphoses announced that they wanted to leave the ICC. Now the ruling ANC party is rowing back: There was a “communication error”.
South Africa wants to retain its membership of the International Criminal Court (ICC). A few hours after the announcement to leave the ICC, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office followed last night with a clarification. According to the presidency, the statement that the governing party ANC had decided to withdraw from the ICC was based on a “communication error” during an ANC press conference.
The ANC had previously announced that it had “decided that South Africa should withdraw from the ICC,” Ramaphosa said. The South African President said at a press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö that the ANC finds the ICC’s treatment of certain countries “unfair”. “We would like to discuss the issue of unfair treatment in detail, but for now the ruling party has decided to leave,” he added.
The ICC had issued an arrest warrant for Putin
The ANC later said in a statement that it “inadvertently gave the impression that a categorical decision to withdraw immediately had been taken”. But this is not the case.
South Africa will host a summit of leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa this year. Following the arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin issued by the ICC in March, South Africa would have to arrest the Russian President upon his arrival for the summit.
South Africa has not condemned Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. The country says it wants to remain impartial and prefers dialogue to end the war.