Politics

No evidence South Africa supplied weapons to Russia— Inquiry

Published

8 months ago

September 4, 2023

The South African government has announced that its independent inquiry has found no evidence that it supplied arms to Russia late last year as alleged by the United States through its Ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, in May.

Ambassador Brigety had in May said that the US was sure that contrary to its public claim of being non-aligned in the Russia/Ukraine crisis, South Africa supplied arms to Vladimir Putin’s army. But President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday said internal findings contradicted the US claim.

The U.S. allegations prompted doubts about South Africa’s declared non-alignment and neutrality over Russia’s conflict in Ukraine and triggered worries about potential Western sanctions.

Ramaphosa claimed in a speech to the country that the accusations had a negative impact on South Africa’s economy and its standing internationally.

“The panel found that there was no evidence to support the claim that the ship transported weapons from South Africa destined for Russia,” Ramaphosa said.

“No permit was issued for the export of arms and no arms were exported.”

Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Pretoria expressed its appreciation for the inquiry’s commitment to conducting its investigation into the ship’s stay in South Africa.

The US “will allow South Africa speak for its panel’s judgement,” according to its mission’s spokesperson at the embassy, David Feldmann, without commenting on the results.

South Africa has remained a significant ally of Russia despite strong criticism from the West, especially the US.

Related Topics:Cyril Ramaphosa Featured South Africa

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Politics

Burkina Faso investigating reports of northern killings

Published

10 hours ago

April 28, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A government spokesman has revealed that Burkina Faso is looking into reports that 223 people were killed by the Burkinabe army in two villages in the north in February.

The killing was first reported by the Human Rights Watch (HRW), causing a rift between the junta-led West African state and some foreign media that published the report. The HRW report released on Thursday said that the military had executed residents of Nodin and Soro, including at least 56 children, as part of a campaign against civilians suspected of working with jihadist terrorists. The report was based on interviews with witnesses, members of civil society, and other groups.

Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo, a spokesman for the government, said that HRW’s claims were “peremptory” and that the junta was not unwilling to look into the claimed crimes.

“An investigation has been launched into the killings in Nodin and Soro,” Ouedraogo said in a late-evening statement, quoting a statement from a regional prosecutor on March 1.

Since Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger’s militaries took over in a series of coups from 2020 to 2023, violence in the area has gotten worse. This is because of the ten-year fight with Islamist groups related to Al Qaeda and Islamic State.

Attacks on Burkina Faso got much worse in 2023, with more than 8,000 people killed, according to the U.S.-based crisis-monitoring group ACLED.

Politics

S’Africa lengthens troop deployment in Mozambique, Congo DR

Published

3 days ago

April 26, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a speech that South Africa’s military would keep sending troops to Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which are both in the middle of wars.

The extension will leave 1,198 members of the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) in eastern Congo for an unknown amount of time. They are there as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force helping Congo fight rebel groups.

The statement also said that 1,495 members of the SANDF would keep working in Mozambique, where they have been since 2021 helping the government fight dangerous extremism in the north.

After two SANDF troops were killed and three were hurt by a mortar bomb in Congo in February, South Africa’s military operations abroad have been looked at more closely at home this year.

Meanwhile, the major opposition party in South Africa, the Democratic Alliance, said that Ramaphosa sent troops into a war zone without being ready.
Under the supervision of the UN, the SANDF has taken on many dangerous and difficult peacekeeping tasks over the years to help war-torn African countries stay stable and peaceful.

In 2003, South Africa was one of the first countries to send troops to Burundi to help the peace process. During the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) peacekeeping mission in 2000, the SANDF led attempts to stabilize the country’s politics, rebuild and improve infrastructure, and train DRC troops.