JOHANNESBURG: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa rowed back on Wednesday from a pledge to quit the International Criminal Court, months before he is due to host Russia’s Vladimir Putin who is wanted by the ICC for suspected war crimes.
Ramaphosa had said on Tuesday that the ruling African National Congress would aim to repeal South Africa’s membership of the Hague-based court, which hears cases of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. But on Wednesday, Ramaphosa’s office said he had made a mistake.
“South Africa remains a signatory to the ICC in line with a resolution of the 55th National Conference of the ANC – held in December 2022 – to rescind an earlier decision to withdraw from the ICC,” the presidency said in a statement.
“The December resolution was reaffirmed at a meeting of the National Executive Committee of the ANC during the weekend of 21 to 24 April 2023.”
The ICC issued an arrest warrant in March for Putin, accusing him of the war crime of forcibly deporting children from Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine. Moscow denies committing war crimes including forced deportations of children, and says the ICC has no authority as Russia is not a member.
Putin is due to visit South Africa in August for a summit of the BRICS group of emerging economies comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. As an ICC member, South Africa would be required to detain him.
Putin has not traveled abroad since the ICC warrant was issued. He has made only one trip outside the former Soviet Union — to Iran — since launching the invasion of Ukraine last year.
The ANC decided at its national conference in December that South Africa should abandon a legislative process to pull out of the ICC and try to effect changes to the organization from within.
The presidency said on Wednesday that South Africa would work toward establishing an African continental criminal court that would complement the ICC as a court of last resort.
South Africa, due to host Russia’s Vladimir Putin, rows back from pledge to quit war crimes court
https://arab.news/6sxmx
South Africa, due to host Russia’s Vladimir Putin, rows back from pledge to quit war crimes court
- Ruling African National Congress aims to repeal South Africa’s membership of the Hague-based court
- The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant in March for Russian leader
More than 1,700 Africans fighting for Russia, Ukraine says
- “We clearly see that Russia is trying to drag African citizens into a deadly war,” Sybiha said
- The African fighters came from 36 different countries spread across the continent
KYIV: More than 1,700 Africans are fighting for Russia in its war in Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Wednesday, adding that Moscow was using deception to trick them into fighting.
Speaking alongside his counterpart from Ghana, Sybiha said that discussions were taking place with governments across Africa to prevent their citizens from being drawn into such schemes. Ghana will chair the African Union regional bloc next year.
“We clearly see that Russia is trying to drag African citizens into a deadly war,” Sybiha told a news conference. “According to our data, there are currently over 1,780 citizens from the African continent fighting in the Russian army.”
The African fighters came from 36 different countries spread across the continent, he added.
Russian authorities have denied illegally recruiting African citizens to fight in the armed forces.
However, reports of African men being lured into Russia with promises of jobs and ending up on Ukraine’s front line have become more frequent in recent months, creating tensions between Moscow and some of the countries involved.
Ghana’s Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said that many of the Africans fighting for Russia were victims of deception, lured on the dark web with the promise of ordinary jobs.
“They have no security background. They have no military background. They have not been trained,” Ablakwa said. “They were just lured and deceived, and then put on the frontlines.”
Ablakwa expressed solidarity with Ukraine and called for a ceasefire to end the war, which marked its fourth anniversary on Tuesday. He said that he would ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to release two Ghanaian prisoners of war, who were captured fighting for Russia.
Ghana would promote schemes to raise public awareness about trafficking networks deceptively recruiting for Russian forces during its presidency of the African Union, Ablakwa said.
