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South Africa suffers set back in al-Bashir case

“We will then [once the high court has ruled on the state’s application to appeal its ruling] make a determination as to the next course of action, if any”, Mr Zuma said.

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He said South African envoys to the Middle East had recently concluded two rounds of consultations, which took them to Palestine, Israel and Jordan and a number of other countries in the region.

“Attempts to shut the borders by some European countries will not assist the situation”.

Support for non-state actors and terrorist organisations that seek to effect a regime change in Syria is also “unacceptable”.

TVC’s Southern Africa Correspondent Marcelle Gordon reports soon after the opportunity at the AU Summit in Johannesburg.Sudan President Omar al-Bashir jetted out of South Africa from a military airforce base.

The ICC wants the SA government to give an explanation by October 4.

The judges thereafter found that government’s conduct was unlawful and unconstitutional.

“We stand by the High Court judgment as it is a strong contribution to the fight against impunity for egregious crimes” said SALC’s executive director Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh, “the State is free to petition the Supreme Court of Appeal directly and we will continue in our quest to ensure that South Africa does not become a safe haven for suspected war criminals”.

South Africa experiences a mixed migration flow comprising people who are genuine asylum seekers and those who flee to the country in search of economic relief. “It has not just popped up from nowhere”, Zuma said at the Sefako Makgatho Presidential Guesthouse in Pretoria. “It is the painful truth”, said Zuma.

South Africa is a member of the ICC and is among few world countries that incorporated its statute into the constitution making it part of its domestic law.

The objective of their visits was not to monitor the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but to convey Pretoria’s message that the parties need to return to the negotiating table.

Zuma made the comments while discussing South African foreign policy in an address delivered before foreign diplomats.

Palestinians needed their own country “existing side-by-side and at peace with Israel” and “with east Jerusalem as its capital”.

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He also called on Israel to halt the ongoing construction of Jewish-only settlements on expropriated Palestinian land and for a solution to the ongoing plight of Palestinian refugees.

South Africa's president Jacob Zuma listens during the BRICS summit in Ufa Russia Thursday