South Africa grants diplomatic immunity to foreign officials attending BRICS summit

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG (AA) - South Africa’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday it granted diplomatic Immunity to foreign officials attending the upcoming BRICS meetings.

“These immunities do not override any warrant that may have been issued by any international tribunal against any attendee of the conference,” Clayson Monyela, the head of public diplomacy at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), wrote on Twitter.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant in March for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is expected to attend the BRICS summit in Johannesburg on Aug. 22-24.

Russia's top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, will be among several ministers attending the foreign ministers' meeting June 1-2 in Cape Town.

“On 29 May 2023, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation issued a notice in the government gazette on Diplomatic Immunities and Privileges for the upcoming BRICS Foreign Ministers meeting in Cape Town and BRICS Summit to be held in Johannesburg in August,” said Monyela.

He said the notice is a standard conferment of immunities that South Africa does for all international conferences and summits irrespective of the level of participation. He said immunities are for the conference and not for specific individuals.

“They are meant to protect the conference and its attendees from the jurisdiction of the host country for the duration of the conference,” he said.

Former Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, who was wanted by the ICC, attended an AU summit in South Africa in 2015 and was not arrested.

BRICS is a bloc of emerging economies that include Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.