The decision by President Zuma and his Executive dealt South Africa’s global standing and reputation a severe blow.
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The North Gauteng High Court has already said that the domestication of the Rome Statute into South African domestic law over-rides any immunity that al-Bashir could claim to have.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s neighbour Botswana has asked all countries to respect the ICC.
The worldwide Criminal Court (ICC) infringed on South Africa’s rights in its handling of the visit of Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir to this country, the government said on Monday. All nine of the situations the court is investigating are in Africa.
“South Africa was unfortunately not afforded the opportunity to present legal arguments on this application, and hence it is of the view that the principles of justice were not adhered to”.
The Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC) has urged government to continue communicating with the global Criminal Court (ICC) to resolve the dispute over Omar al-Bashir.
Granted the authority to arrest the Sudanese President, the activists were however disappointed to discover that al-Bashir had left the country before they could serve him with the warrant of arrest from the local court – prompting the ICC to seek Pretoria’s explanation why the wanted war crime suspect was allowed to leave the country.
South Africa would ask the ICC’s Assembly of States to discuss the rules governing consultation processes with the court, and the immunity of serving presidents who were not party to the Rome Statute, like Sudan.
“The call for became with a idea to figure out regardless South Africa was also in violate of that other obligations to agree with the Court”, the unusual work said within a declaration.
Kenya and Congo, which are members of the court, have also allowed Bashir to visit without arrest.
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But that trip was the closest he has come to being arrested since he was charged by the ICC in 2009 over the long-running conflict in Darfur, where the United Nations estimates a few 300,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million have been displaced.
