S’Africa’s Ramaphosa Says ANC Wants Country To Quit ICC

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa says the ruling ANC has called for the country, to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC), said Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference, Ramaphosa, following a visit by Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, said the ruling party has decided that it is prudent for South Africa to withdraw from the ICC The African National Congress (ANC) met over the weekend.

Ramaphosa said the ANC’s decision to withdraw from the ICC was made largely because of the perceived unfair treatment of some countries by the court.

South Africa had previously sought to withdraw from the ICC in 2016 after a visit by former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. Pretoria had refused to arrest the latter, who was also the subject of an arrest warrant from the court.

But Pretoria’s withdrawal was thwarted by the country’s judiciary, which ruled that such a decision would be unconstitutional.

The Hague-based ICC issued an arrest warrant in March for Russian President Vladimir Putin for the war crime of “deporting” Ukrainian children.

Pretoria is due to host a summit of the BRICS which is a group of countries including South Africa, Brazil, China, India, and Russia – in August. As a member of the ICC, the country is theoretically supposed to arrest the Russian president if he enters its territory.

Ramaphosa, who has met several times with Putin said South Africa refuses to condemn Moscow since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, claiming to adopt a neutral position to be able to play a role in the resolution of conflicts.

The country also hosted naval exercises with Russia and China off its coast in February, causing “concern” on the international scene.