ICC to Discuss South Africa's Failure to Arrest Sudan's Bashir

In a ruling issued Thursday, pre-trial judges at the court scheduled a hearing for April 7, at which the court's prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, South Africa's government and the United Nations could discuss the alleged non-compliance.

In 2010, the court charged Bashir with genocide in connection with the conflict in South Sudan. The ICC's arrest warrants are binding on all member states, including South Africa, but in practice Bashir has visited many members, especially in Africa, without being arrested.

South Africa had previously asked the court to suspend its legal action over the visit until all domestic litigation on the matter was complete. The country remains under legal obligation to attend the April hearing despite its planned withdrawal.

More than two-thirds of the court's members are African countries, but a series of politically sensitive cases, particularly those against Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, both since shelved, have severely tested Africa's support for the court.

The court has no enforcement powers and no police force of its own. A finding of non-compliance would likely leave any sanctions against South Africa in the hands of the United Nations Security Council, which originally asked the court to investigate alleged war crimes in Sudan.