South Africa considers quitting ICC after escape Bashir

South Africa will consider withdrawing from the International Criminal Court as a "last resort" following a dispute over a visit by Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir, who is wanted for alleged war crimes, the government said on Thursday according to Associated Press.

The South African Cabinet is reviewing the country's status as a signatory to the statute that set up the international court, the government said in a statement. It cited "contradictions" in the statute and said South Africa would have found it difficult to arrest Al Bashir because of treaty obligations to the African Union.

Al Bashir was in South Africa for an AU summit on 14 and 15 June. He left for Sudan that last day, despite a South African provincial court ordered that he should remain in the country while judges deliberated on whether he should be arrested for alleged crimes linked to the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

The court then ruled that Al Bashir should indeed be arrested, but the Sudanese leader had already left on his plane through a military airport.

Judge suggest charging government

On Wednesday, Dunstan Mlambo, a South African judge, said the government had not complied with the original order that Al Bashir should stay in the country.

"For this reason, we find it prudent to invite the national director of public prosecutions to consider whether criminal proceedings are appropriate," the South Africa-based African News Agency quoted Mlambo as saying.

Some African leaders say the International Criminal Court has unfairly targeted African heads of state. The African Union said delegates to the summit in Johannesburg had immunity.

James Stewart, deputy prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, said last week that South Africa had been obligated to arrest Al Bashir.