STEVEN KUO: Remaining neutral allows SA to be available as a viable peace facilitator
This country’s policy has always been to back negotiation
Africa is split on the Ukraine crisis. In the UN General Assembly vote last week condemning Russian aggression in Ukraine, of the 54 African countries just 28 voted in favour of the resolution. SA was one of 17 African countries that abstained. Eight did not vote, and Eritrea voted against the resolution.
SA’s department of international relations & co-operation initially released a statement calling on Russia to “immediately withdraw its forces from Ukraine in line with the UN Charter”. We will never know if the Russia embassy in Pretoria made any calls, but President Cyril Ramaphosa quickly realised this was inconsistent with SA’s alliance with Russia and back-pedalled SA’s position to one of neutrality and calling for a negotiated settlement...
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