President of the assembly of state parties to the ICC founding treaty, Sidiki Kaba, says although withdrawing from a treaty is a sovereign act, he regrets these decisions and invite South Africa and Burundi to reconsider.

"I urge them to work together with other States in the fight against impunity, which often causes massive violations of human rights," Kaba said in a statement.

The statement came a day after South Africa dealt a major blow to the court by announcing it would withdraw from the ICC.

The announcement followed a dispute last year when Sudanese President Omaral-Bashir visited the country despite being the subject of an ICC arrest warrant over alleged war crimes.

Earlier this month, Burundi said it would leave the court, while Namibia and Kenya have also raised the possibility.

The ICC, set up in 2002, is often accused of bias against Africa and has also struggled with a lack of cooperation, including from the United States which has signed the court's treaty but never ratified it.

AFP