by James Tweedie

SOUTH AFRICA’S governing ANC condemned an attempt by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to have Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir arrested in Johannesburg at the weekend.

The opening of an African Union (AU) summit on Saturday was marred when ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda pressed the South African government to arrest Mr Bashir.

The ICC is seeking to try the Sudanese leader, who was in South Africa for the summit, for alleged genocide and crimes against humanity in Sudan’s western Darfur region.

AU commission spokesman Jacob Enoh-Eben said that the continent-wide body had asked the ICC to stop proceedings against sitting presidents.

He added that the AU would not compel member states to make arrests on behalf of the Hague-based court, saying: “It’s like arresting yourself.”

But, yesterday, a group called the Southern African Litigation Centre, which claims to “promote human rights and the rule of law,” said a judge had granted it a petition ordering the government to prevent Mr Bashir from leaving the country.

The centre had announced last Thursday that it was seeking to have the Sudanese president arrested.

Catherine James, a lawyer with the group, claimed that authorities were obliged by international law to arrest Mr Bashir
But, in a statement released yesterday afternoon, the ANC national executive committee said that it no longer viewed the ICC as fit for purpose.

It said that African and eastern European counties that had signed up to the Rome Statute of the ICC out of a commitment to human rights were unfairly bearing the brunt of its decisions, “while gross human rights violations” by non-signatories — which include the US and Israel along with Sudan — go unpunished.

The ANC executive called for a review of ICC statutes to compel all United Nations member states to sign the statute to make the body “a fair and independent court for universal and equitable justice.”

The party also pointed out that all participants in the AU summit had enjoyed immunity from prosecution, in accordance with international norms.

A special AU summit in October 2013 discussed mass withdrawal from the ICC, but member states ultimately rejected the proposal.