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S. African ruling party vows to challenge court ruling on al-Bashir saga

Xinhua, September 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Thursday vowed to challenge a court ruling accusing the government of failing to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

"It is our view that this judgment will have an important bearing on future international engagements and therefore should not go unchallenged," ANC national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said.

The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday dismissed the government's application for leave to appeal against its ruling ordering the arrest of al-Bashir.

The judges ruled that al-Bashir did not enjoy immunity from arrest or from prosecution under customary international law as a serving head of state.

The ruling said South Africa had a duty to arrest al-Bashir when he was attending the 25th African Union Summit in Johannesburg in mid June this year.

The judges said the government acted "unlawfully and unconstitutionally" to let al-Bashir leave the country despite an order by the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, preventing al-Bashir to leave the country.

The court issued the order while al-Bashir was in the country to attend the AU Summit following an warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest him for alleged crimes against humanity.

The South African government has defended its inaction that let al-Bashir leave the country and avoid arrest, saying it could not arrest al-Bashir as he was in South Africa attending an AU summit as a guest of the AU.

The summit venue was an AU area where al-Bashir was granted immunity as agreed upon, the government says.

The AU in 2013 decided that no sitting head of state in Africa should be sent to the ICC.

Kodwa said the ANC has noted the court decision to dismiss the government's application to appeal an earlier ruling that South Africa was obliged to arrest al-Bashir when he visited the country earlier this year.

"The African Union enjoys the same status as the United Nations and other multi-national institutions on issues relating to immunities afforded to participants. This important continental union of Africa cannot and should not be treated by differently," said Kodwa.

"Whilst we respect the decision of the court, the ANC does not agree with it and would urge government to consider petitioning the Supreme Court of Appeal," he said.

Mtunzi Mhaga, spokesperson of the Department of Justice and Correctional Service, said they were disappointed with the ruling and would consider a petition to the Supreme Court of appeal for leave to appeal. Enditem