"You can't arrest Bashir. Who's going to arrest him?"

This was the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs response to the arrest warrant that the ICC prosecutor is seeking for Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir. This statement by the deputy minister of foreign affairs, Aziz Pahad, does not do anything to boost South Africa's image (in the international world) especially as far as prosecuting prominent political leaders.

Firstly, it should be noted that the UN Security Council instructed the ICC prosecutor to investigate the atrocities and crimes committed in the Darfur region of Sudan. By way of the Security Council, the ICC obtained the jurisdiction to deal with Sudan, even though Sudan is not a state party to the ICC statute. The Sudanese government has stated that they will give their full cooperation to the UN, but they do not recognise the ICC as a court having jurisdiction over their nationals. What constitutes full cooperation? It was the UN who in the first place gave the ICC a mandate to investigate. Therefore by supporting the UN, does that not mean that the Sudanese government must also cooperate with the ICC, should they issue a warrant of arrest against al-Bashir? In the past the Sudanese government refused to cooperate by not delivering two prominent government ministers to the Court, for whom warrants of arrest have already been issued. The likelihood that they will cooperate now, is wishful thinking.

Back to the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs' response. Firstly, it should be noted that this response portrays a bad picture of South Africa's response to the prosecution of high government officials. This is not surprising, considering that the leading political party of the country (the ANC) wants fraud, corruption and money laundering charges dropped against their party leader, Jacob Zuma. It should be remembered that in all probability Jacob Zuma will be elected the country's next president. This paints the picture that South Africa is in support of full immunity against criminal prosecution for prominent political leaders, even if they committed crimes which could taint their reputation in negative light, as president.

Secondly, who's going to arrest him [al-Bashir]? As stated above, the Sudanese government does not recognise the jurisdiction that the ICC holds over it as far as international criminal law is concerned. They refuse to deliver to other accused for whom warrants of arrest has been issued. However, I want to respond with another question, which could possibly open the floor for debate: Who arrested Slobodan Milosevic? Who arrested Charles Taylor? Who arrested Jean-Pierre Bemba?