South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday said the governing African National Congress (ANC) party has called for the country to quit the International Criminal Court (ICC), which issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, reported Africa News.
The warrant issued against the Russian president last month means Pretoria would have to arrest him on arrival. Pretoria is scheduled to host the BRICS bloc summit in August this year. The BRICS bloc comprises Brazil, China, India, Russia, and South Africa.
“Yes, the governing party … has taken that decision that it is prudent that South Africa should pull out of the ICC,” Ramaphosa said during a news conference alongside the visiting Finland President Sauli Niinisto.
The South African president said the decision was mainly taken because of what is considered the court’s unfair treatment of certain countries.
“We would like this matter of unfair treatment to be properly discussed, but in the meantime, the governing party has decided once again that there should be a pull-out,” he said.
The decision to pull out of the ICC was taken after a weekend meeting of the ANC. The arrest warrant against Putin followed accusations that the Russian government unlawfully deported Ukrainian children.
When reporters asked the South African president if his government would arrest Putin, he said the matter is currently under consideration.
South Africa has refused to condemn Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine which has largely isolated the country on the international stage. The country wants to stay neutral and calls for a dialogue to end the war.
Notably, South Africa previously attempted to withdraw itself from the ICC in 2016. The South African government had then called for a pull-out when Sudan’s then-President Omar al-Bashir visited the country for an African Union summit. The ICC had issued an arrest warrant against Bashir for alleged war crimes.
