South Africa is considering revoking its accession to the Rome Statute and abandoning its membership of the International Criminal Court after last week's fiasco in which genocide-accused Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was allowed to leave the country in contempt of a high court order. The court had ordered that he be detained as a fugitive from international justice.Minister in The Presidency Jeff Radebe told reporters that discussions on the issue with the ICC and other international forums would begin shortly.Pretoria High Court Judge President Dunstan Mlambo gave the government until yesterday to submit an affidavit setting out the circumstances of Bashir's departure from South Africa last week in contravention of the court order.The ICC had issued a warrant for his arrest for war crimes and genocide in Darfur.He was, however, allowed to return to Sudan after attending an African Union summit in Johannesburg.Radebe denied that the government had acted unconstitutionally or had undermined the rule of law by allowing Bashir to leave."The government always observes the rule of law and court judgments," he said.Radebe would not reveal the contents of the affidavit demanded by the judge president.Radebe reiterated previous government assertions that Bashir had not been invited to South Africa by the government but was a guest of the AU, and South Africa had merely provided a venue.He said South Africa would shortly start discussions with the ICC and the AU about the matter.Radebe said the ICC order to arrest Bashir was in conflict with this country's obligations to the AU...