South Africa has confirmed its plan to exit the International Criminal Court, and a formal notice of withdrawal has been handed over to the United Nations. It's the second African country to pull out of the ICC, after Burundi.

The decision has been welcomed by the African Union, who says more of its members are likely to follow suit in the coming weeks.

The African Union is holding the line that it's up to individual members to quit or stay with the ICC. But the AU has made very clear - it wants individual members to withdraw - all together.

Back in January, the AU set up a committee of AU foreign ministers - their mandate was to develop a comprehensive withdrawal strategy. And officials here say it's making progress.

Just this week, Burundi and now South Africa have made clear they want out. Officials say we can expect other African countries to make similar announcements soon.

In the meantime, the AU is again urging members to ignore their ICC obligations, specifically in detaining Sudan's leader. The AU also wants the ICC to drop the case against President Omar Al Bashir.