South Africa’s president has backtracked on a declare that his occasion wished to withdraw from the Worldwide Felony Courtroom, forward of a deliberate go to to the nation by Russia’s chief Vladimir Putin, who was indicted final month for battle crimes in Ukraine.

Cyril Ramaphosa had “regrettably . . . erroneously affirmed” in feedback he made at a press convention on Tuesday that the governing African Nationwide Congress was planning to depart the court docket, his workplace stated.

The Hague-based court docket issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest over the deportation of kids in occupied areas of Ukraine, throwing into disarray South Africa’s plans to carry a summit with the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and different Brics nations in August. As an ICC member, Pretoria can be obliged to detain Putin on arrival.

Ramaphosa had claimed earlier that the ANC had determined “it’s prudent that South Africa ought to pull out of the ICC due to the style wherein the ICC has been seen to be coping with a majority of these issues”.

However his workplace in a while Tuesday stated that “the presidency needs to make clear that South Africa stays a signatory [to the court] and can proceed to marketing campaign for equal and constant software of worldwide legislation”.

Ramaphosa’s error will trigger intense diplomatic embarrassment for South Africa at a time when the Putin indictment has uncovered tensions over the nation’s place on the battle in Ukraine and its deepening ties to Russia.

Ramaphosa has cordial relations with Putin, and members of his authorities have stated Russia shouldn’t be immediately condemned over the invasion, whereas additionally questioning western assist for Kyiv. South Africa held joint naval workouts with Russia over this yr’s anniversary of the invasion.

Withdrawal from the ICC wouldn’t in any case have altered the dilemma dealing with Ramaphosa’s authorities if Putin does attend the Brics summit in August whereas underneath indictment. It will take many months to depart the court docket even when the transfer had been accredited at residence, analysts have stated.

The ANC solely not too long ago cancelled earlier plans to withdraw from the ICC court docket after South Africa ignored an ICC warrant to arrest Omar al-Bashir, the previous president of Sudan, in 2015.

Because it backtracked on Tuesday, the South African presidency stated that the occasion had “mirrored on the potential withdrawal from the ICC as an possibility that may come up as a measure of final resort” within the absence of reforms to the court docket.

South Africa was among the many first nations to ratify the court docket’s founding Rome statute in 2000, obliging it to help with ICC prosecutions. Some within the ANC, nonetheless, consider that the ICC has been biased in opposition to growing nations in its investigations.

The Bashir episode badly broken the post-apartheid democracy’s repute as a backer of worldwide legislation and multilateral establishments. However it additionally established a precedent in South Africa’s personal legislation for ICC warrants to be adopted after courts assailed the state’s failure to make an arrest.

It’s nonetheless unclear whether or not Putin will attend the summit in Johannesburg in particular person. The matter “remains to be into account and dialogue” in gentle of the ICC warrant, Ramaphosa stated.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesperson, stated this week {that a} resolution on Putin’s attendance can be made nearer to the date. He didn’t reply to a request for remark.

“It’s completely a dilemma for the South African authorities,” stated Priyal Singh, a senior researcher at South Africa’s Institute of Safety Research, suggesting {that a} diplomatic answer might but be discovered, equivalent to Putin sending a minister as a substitute or attending on-line.

Ramaphosa’s authorities might alternatively search to argue over the authorized foundation of the ICC warrant if Putin had been confirmed as attending the summit, stated Gerhard Kemp, professor of worldwide and transnational felony justice at Derby college within the UK.

“That may be the honourable route, fairly than to attempt to ignore the warrant,” Kemp stated. “It’s not solely about Putin. It will be a take a look at of South Africa’s personal authorized system and the authority of the courts.”