South Africa ignores “warnings” and condemns Ukraine's war against NATO

Johannesburg, 17 March South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday that the war in Ukraine “would have been avoided if NATO paid attention to warnings from its own leaders and officials.” “Expansion” to Eastern Europe will lead to “greater instability in the region.” To answer questions from South African lawmakers, Ramaphosa, during the appearance of the parliament, justified the position taken by his administration, an ally of Russia in the bloc of emerging powers BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), maintaining close ties with Moscow and “dialogue” without going to condemn the operation against Ukraine. Despite the fact that the equidistant position on this crisis has been harshly criticized within his country, the President of South Africa said: “South Africa is ready to support a true multilateral effort to end the conflict and achieve lasting peace in the region. Pointing out that South Africa cannot tolerate acts of violence or justify violations of international law, Ramaphosa argued that Russia “clearly” felt the “existential threat” that caused military operations against Ukraine and defended the South African government calling for “dialogue”. Replaces the “blame” position. “With this approach, we can hear our voice not only in public, but also by the parties involved in the dispute (...) There are people who say 'we blame this and blame the other party', but it actually makes it impossible for us to play the role we can play.” He emphasized. Ramaphosa reiterated in a conversation with Vladimir Putin a week ago that the Russian president was convinced that negotiations were underway and at some point expressed his desire to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In addition, the President of South Africa stressed that the conflict shows a great “weakness” in the construction of UN organizations, especially in the Security Council when dealing with conflicts, since it does not reflect the “reality” of the world. Ramaphosa criticized the fact that powerful countries have a “tendency” to use permanent seats for national interests rather than “global stability” and demanded more fame from Africa. “It is of great concern to the citizens of this continent that 1.3 billion people do not have a meaningful voice in the UN Security Council.” He emphasized. On the day of the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, the South African Ministry of International Relations publicly demanded the immediate withdrawal of troops in a statement (but without explicitly denouncing the operation), but next week Pretoria softened its position. In early March, despite South African public opinion and harsh criticism from local media, the Ramaphosa government abstained from a UN vote to condemn the coordinated invasion from Moscow. ngp/ad