South Africa’s head of diplomacy, Naledi Pandor, confirmed on Thursday that her country has invited Vladimir Putin to the summit of the emerging economies group BRICS in August, despite the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrant against him.
“President Putin is one of the leaders of the BRICS [Brasil, Rússia, Índia, China e África do Sul] and has been invited to the summit, although I think the ICC warrant (arrest warrant) is cause for concern,” Pandor said in Pretoria during an official visit to South Africa by Belgium’s Kings Philippe and Mathilde.
As a member state of the ICC, South Africa, which will host the BRICS Summit of Heads of State and Government in Durban (east) in August, is required to cooperate in Putin’s arrest after the International Court of Justice announced an arrest on Friday. issued arrest warrant for the Russian leader for alleged war crimes.
“We have to discuss the matter in the cabinet [governo sul-africano] to decide how we are going to act,” said the foreign minister, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the BRICS countries this year, stating that the assessment of this matter will be as soon as possible.
South Africa’s head of diplomacy spoke on the matter after Russia said on Thursday it was confident South Africa would ensure effective work for all countries and their representatives, including leaders, at the summit.
“I have already mentioned the problem of double standards in global affairs on other occasions. There are many other countries that have been involved in wars, invasions of territories, killings of people and arrests of activists, but none of them have been called upon by the ICC Pandora added.
The minister added that it appears “when someone is powerful and enjoys a certain status in the international community, he can get away with it and this is worrying because it undermines the objectivity of the ICC as a fair adjudicator”.
In June 2015, the South African government found itself in a similar situation when then Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who had an arrest warrant for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, attended an African Union (AU) summit. in Johannesburg.
Pretoria argued that it could not detain Al-Bashir as head of state due to his diplomatic immunity and land him in the country, but the Sudanese leader returned to Khartoum in less than 48 hours to avoid problems with the judiciary, which, in obedience to the ICC, ordered his arrest.
Months later, the international court decided to prosecute South Africa for lack of cooperation, but refused to submit the situation to the United Nations (UN) Security Council in 2017 to protect future cooperation with the African country.
South Africa last year said it had taken a neutral stance in Russia’s war against Ukraine and called for dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the conflict.
This position is related not only to Moscow’s strategic political and economic role in some African countries, but also to historical reasons such as Russia’s support for anti-colonial and liberation movements in the 20th century, such as the fight against the “apartheid” racial segregation regime. in the case of South Africa.
Brazil, Russia, India and China founded the BRIC group in 2006, which South Africa joined in 2010, adding the letter S [de South Africa em inglês) à atual sigla.
Source: DN
