Johannesburg  - Athletics South Africa has ordered its president Leonard Chuene to return to the council of the world governing body IAAF, from which he resigned last month in protest over the handling of the Caster Semenya case.

Semenya is the women's 800m world champion on whom the IAAF demanded gender tests. Chuene resigned from the IAAF council when the news of the tests broke hours before the 800m final at the world championships in Berlin.

Phiwe Mlangeni-Tsholetsani, spokeswoman for ASA, confirmed on Monday that ASA's council had decided at a weekend meeting on the Semenya case that Chuene should rescind his resignation.

IAAF president Lamine Diack had written to President Jacob Zuma last month asking him to order Chuene not to resign his seat.

"He was ordered (by the ASA council) not to resign. By default, that means he's going back (to the IAAF)," Mlangeni-Tsholetsani said.

Chuene was scheduled to meet Tuesday with Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile, who would formalize the decision, she said.

Relations between the IAAF and South Africa have been severely strained by the Semenya case. While Chuene's return to the IAAF appeared aimed at defusing tensions, Stofile was, as recently as Friday, threatening the IAAF with "war" if the federation barred Semenya from running against women in the future.

He was reacting to Australian media reports claiming that the gender tests had showed Semenya to be intersex - having both male and female characteristics.

The IAAF has said it will not release the results until November because it wants to discuss them first with Semenya and experts for a final ruling on the case. (dpa)