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ights situation in these countries. Giving South Africa’s reasons for refusing toendorse the resolution against Myanmar, which called for the release of all politicaldetainees and an end to military sexual violence, proposed in January 2007,Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo stated the following:• That it would compromise the “good offices” of the Secretary General, at thattime providing a ‘channel for private and confidential communication’ byProfessor Ibrahim Gambari, the UN’s special envoy to Myanmar;• That the matters raised in the resolution would “be best left to the HumanRights Council”; and,• That the resolution would take the Security Council out of its mandatedjurisdiction of ‘dealing with matters that are a threat to international peace andsecurity’ 451 .Mbeki underscored this statement in an interview with the national broadcaster,affirming that,I am sure we will continue to insist…that the Security Council functions in amanner within a framework that is defined by international law. It can’t be the firstone to break the law and put any matter on the agenda that it wishes. 452South Africa’s multilateralism also favoured regional actions over multilateralinterventions. This was also adduced as a reason for the country’s refusal to supportthe resolution against Myanmar. In the statement declaring its non-support of theUNSC Resolution against the military junta, Kumalo noted that a further factorinfluencing South Africa’s stance was the fact that ASEAN Ministers, meeting on11 January 2007, had stated that Myanmar was not a threat to its neighbours.Likewise, Mbeki promoted the idea of ‘African solutions to African problems’.South Africa deferred to the African Union’s decision not to abide by the ICCindictment of Sudanese president Mohammed al-Bashir, in spite of being asignatory to the Rome Statute.451 Permanent Mission of South Africa to the UN. 2007. “Statement by AmbassadorDumisani Kumalo at the Security Council Meeting on the Situation in Myanmar”, January12, 2007. Accessed online at: http://www.southafricanewyork.net/pmun/view_speech.php?speech=8716955on 14 April, 2010.452 News24, 12 February 2007, “UN acted illegally – Mbeki”, electronic documentaccessed online at: http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/UN-acted-illegally-Mbeki-20070211 on 14 April, 2010.187