South Africa has accused the International Criminal Court (ICC)\u00a0of bias and unfairly targeting African leaders and served notice of its intent to withdraw from the\u00a0Hague-based tribunal.<\/p>\n
Justice Minister Michael Masutha told reporters in Pretoria: \u201cThe decision to exit the ICC\u00a0was taken by cabinet this week, a draft law proposing that South Africa will repeal its participation in the Rome Statute will be tabled in Parliament soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ICC, which tries individuals for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, has been criticized by\u00a0African nations because nine of the ten investigations it has opened since its formation in 2002 are in Africa.<\/p>\n
South African President Jacob Zuma questioned why the ICC didn\u2019t act\u00a0against Israel for crimes committed against Palestinians or against the U.S. for attacking Iraq on the pretext that it had weapons of mass destruction that were never found. \u00a0Burundi is\u00a0withdrawing from the ICC this week.<\/p>\n
South Africa refused to arrest Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir, who has been indicted twice for war crimes and genocide by the ICC. \u00a0The ICC indicted him in 2009 and 2010 for his role in atrocities in Sudan\u2019s western Darfur region, where insurgents took up arms in 2003. \u00a0As many as 300,000 people have died in the conflict, mainly from illness and starvation, according to the United Nations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"