JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - South African prosecutors said Friday they had obtained an arrest warrant for national police chief and Interpol president Jackie Selebi, as one of his friends appeared in court on murder charges.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) made clear it would not immediately act on the warrant pending a review of the case by the newly-appointed acting head of public prosecutions.

NPA spokesman Tlali Tlali refused to give details of the warrant, saying they would "be made public at the appropriate time".

"Specifics of what we are looking for cannot be disclosed now. They will constitute the charges, if they are going to be laid," he told AFP.

However a report on Friday in the respected Mail and Guardian weekly said the charges levelled against Selebi included corruption, fraud, racketeering and defeating the ends of justice.

Following earlier leaks to the media that a warrant had been issued but not yet executed, the NPA confirmed it had obtained permission on September 10 to arrest Selebi.

A separate search warrant was obtained on September 14, the NPA said in a statement.

The warrants were issued a matter of days before President Thabo Mbeki, said to be an ally of Selebi, decided to suspend the director of public prosecutions, Vusi Pikoli.

The official explanation for the suspension was an "irretrievable breakdown" in Pikoli's relationship with the justice minister.

However newspaper reports have alleged Mbeki acted against Pikoli after he learnt about the arrest warrant for Selebi, who is a senior member of the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

Friday's confirmation of the warrants came on the same day that businessman Glenn Agliotti, whom Selebi has acknowledged as a friend, appeared in court accused of the mafia-style murder of a mining magnate in 2005.

Selebi has long faced calls to quit over his links with Agliotti, whose case was adjourned until January 22 when he appeared before magistrates in Johannesburg.

After reports of the warrant were leaked to the media last month, Selebi vowed he would never be arrested and said he was "not bothered at all".

The NPA said the decision to obtain the warrants was "carefully considered and supported by the senior management of the NPA," including Pikoli.

However Pikoli's acting replacement Mokotedi Mpshe had since ordered a review of the case in a move the NPA said "implied that the arrest and search warrants would not be executed pending the outcome."

Mpshe had approached a judge to cancel the warrants but the application was refused and then withdrawn.

The main opposition Democratic Alliance on Friday demanded Selebi's immediate suspension.

"It is an untenable situation," DA parliamentary leader Sandra Botha told AFP.

"Even if the warrants were withdrawn, it is improper that such a person is allowed to remain in his post. It interferes with the very administration of justice."

In her weekly newsletter, Botha expressed concern about Mbeki's alleged interference in the case to protect Selebi, describing this as a constitutional crisis.

"The question can only be asked as to what kind of hold the commissioner has over the president for the president to protect him at the cost of the independence and integrity of our democratic institutions."