Ukraine War: S. Africa trapped in the proxy web

Sopuruchi Onwuka, with agency reports

The government of South Africa has been caught in the web of allegiance in the ongoing Ukraine war in which ancient foes have taken sides. And the African manufacturing powerhouse appears to be wobbling in its diplomatic maneuvers.

With isolated Russia clinching on few economic and development allies, its military and trade relationship with Russia came under pressure when Ambassador Reuben Brigety said the U.S. government was certain that weapons were loaded onto a cargo ship that docked secretly at a naval base near the city of Cape Town for three days in December.

The U.S. ambassador to South Africa accused the country of providing weapons to Russia. Ambassador Reuben Brigety had questioned South Africa’s neutrality in the Ukraine war while making the allegations about a weapons shipment.

Brigety was subsequently summoned to a meeting with South Africa’s foreign minister.

The arms supply allegation, coming from highly placed diplomatic official was yet to be convincingly addressed before President Cyril Ramaphosa allowed his army general to attend a meeting on military cooperation with Russia.

Before the meeting on military cooperation on Monday, South Africa’s government had denied that it was involved in any transshipment of military equipment and munitions to Russia. It did not however completely deny the assertion of the American ambassador. It however promised an investigation.

Questions are still raging over the possibility of third party transaction on supply of weapons to Russia. Even at that would government not approve that? If it didn’t approve any such deal, what would ordinarily be the response of the government?

The same government had denied Nigeria under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan the opportunity to procure military munitions for counter insurgency operations in the northeast.

But in the Russian case, the American intelligence mission in South Africa stated that significant cache of munitions were loaded at a naval base in Cape Town, and the reported incident aligns with joint military drills among belligerent Russia, China and Iran. The chain of events puts South Africa in the middle of the unfolding global military seismic turbulence fueling confrontations across regions of the world.

President Ramaphosa declared early in the week that his country is under pressure to take sides in the Ukrainian war, a position that would compromise South Africa’s non-aligned position.

While he decries the country’s dilemma in the ongoing Ukraine war and the associated muscle flexing between Russia and Western allies, a top South African army general was in Moscow to discuss military cooperation.

Commander of Russia’s ground forces, Gen. Oleg Salyukov, reportedly met South Africa’s army, Lt. Gen. Lawrence Mbatha, at Russia’s general command headquarters in Moscow, the Russian ministry said.

“The sides discussed issues of military cooperation and the implementation of projects geared to enhance the combat readiness of the two countries’ armies,” the ministry said in a statement. “The meeting between the military commanders yielded agreements on the further expansion of cooperation between the land forces in various areas.”

The Defense Ministry said a South African delegation would visit a number of Russian army “educational and training facilities.”

The South African army said the trip was planned well in advance of the U.S. ambassador to South Africa alleging last week that the country had provided weapons to Russia when a ship under U.S. sanctions made a secret stop at a South African naval base in December.

The South African government has denied the Russian cargo ship’s stop involved an official sale of weapons, although it has not categorically ruled out an arms transaction took place.

Ramaphosa has said an investigation was underway to determine if anyone loaded weapons onto the Russian-flagged Lady R cargo ship at the Simon’s Town naval base near Cape Town.

Ramaphosa used his weekly message to the nation Monday to reaffirm South Africa’s non-aligned stance with regard to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

 “We do not accept that our non-aligned position favors Russia above other countries,” Ramaphosa wrote in his weekly message. “Nor do we accept that it should imperil our relations with other countries.”

Ramaphosa added: “We have been firm on this point: South Africa has not been, and will not be, drawn into a contest between global powers.”

He also hinted that Russian President Vladimir Putin would visit South Africa for a meeting of leaders of the BRICS economic bloc in August. The Kremlin has not confirmed that Putin plans to attend the BRICS summit. South Africa is the only African nation in the BRICS bloc, which also includes Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Such a trip would entangle South Africa in another diplomatic mess because the country is a signatory to the treaty that created International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March for alleged war crimes involving the abductions of children from Ukraine.

Since the indictment, Putin has traveled rarely, and only to countries that are close allies of Russia. Countries that are parties to the treaty would be obliged to arrest the Russian leader.

While Russia and South Africa both described Monday’s meeting of the countries’ top army generals as part of a normal bilateral trip, it’s bound to increase scrutiny of Africa’s most developed economy, which is seen as an influential nation in the developing world.

Aside from the weapons allegations, South Africa also hosted Russian and Chinese warships and took part in naval exercises off its east coast in February that coincided with the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Brigety, the American ambassador, said last week that U.S. officials have “respect for South Africa’s policy of neutrality and non-alignment in international affairs” but had “noted a series of issues which suggest that in practice the government of South Africa is in fact not non-aligned.”

Ship tracking agencies confirmed that the Lady R cargo ship stopped at the South African naval base for at least three days in December, as Brigety claimed. And records show that the Lady R is tied to a company that was sanctioned by the U.S. for transporting weapons for the Russian government and aiding its war effort in Ukraine.