PRETORIA, South Africa
South Africa is mulling its options over an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin should he accept an invitation to a BRICS summit in August, a government official said on Wednesday.
A member of the ICC, South
Africa would theoretically be required to arrest Putin under the warrant issued
in March by the court, which accused him of the war crime of forcibly deporting
children from Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine.
Moscow denies the allegations.
However, South Africa had on
Jan. 25 already invited Putin to the Aug. 22-24 meeting in Johannesburg of
BRICS leaders of emerging economies, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China
and South Africa.
"There has been no firm
decision," said Zane Dangor, director-general of the department of
international relations, adding that ministers assigned to the matter would
soon meet to consider a report setting out the options.
One option gaining traction
among South African officials would be to ask the group's previous chair China
to host the summit, said a senior government official, who spoke on condition
of anonymity.
Asked whether Putin would
attend the gathering, the Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russia would take part
at the "proper level".
Former President Thabo Mbeki,
whose views on international relations hold a lot of sway among government
officials, said in a May 25 interview with radio station 702 that the summit
was unlikely to take place in South Africa.
"Because of our legal
obligations, we have to arrest President Putin, but we can't do that,"
Mbeki said.
A deputy minister, Obed
Bapela, told Britain's BBC on Tuesday that South Africa was planning to pass
legislation that would give Pretoria the option to decide whether or not to
arrest leaders wanted by the ICC.
Bapela did not respond to
requests for comment. However, a justice department official, speaking on the
condition of anonymity, said there wouldn't be enough time to get such a law
approved by parliament before the summit.
South Africa on Monday issued
diplomatic immunity to all leaders attending the meeting and a gathering of
BRICS foreign ministers in Cape Town this week. The international relations
department said this was standard procedure, however, for all international
conferences in South Africa.
"These immunities do not
override any warrant that may have been issued by any international tribunal
against any attendee of the conference," department spokesperson Clayson
Monyela said.
South Africa previously
signalled its intention to withdraw from the ICC following protests about its
failure to arrest Sudan's former president Omar al-Bashir, wanted on genocide
charges, when he attended an African Union summit in Johannesburg in 2015.
The governing African National
Congress decided in December that South Africa should abandon the process and
try to effect changes to the ICC from within. - Africa
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