Musings From Abroad

Russia eyes more partnership with South Africa as Putin congratulates Ramaphosa

Published

1 week ago

June 19, 2024

Kremlin leader, Vladimir Putin, has congratulated Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa on his reelection as president.

On the Kremlin website, a statement from Putin’s phone conversation with Ramaphosa was posted: “Hope was expressed for continued joint work on further strengthening of the partnership between Russia and South Africa in all its aspects.”

Parliament reelected Ramaphosa on Friday. However, the creation of a government composed of five parties so far was spurred by his African National Congress party’s inability to secure a majority in last month’s election—the first such loss in thirty years.

Since the invasion in 2022, Russia and Ukraine have been competing with one another for support from African countries, sending their foreign ministers on many regional tours.

Like many other African nations, South Africa has deep ties to Moscow that go back to the Soviet era, when Moscow was a major supporter of the ANC’s campaign to end apartheid and other liberation organizations.

After opposing Russia’s invasion in February 2022, South Africa has since taken a more nuanced stance, abstaining from many votes in the UN General Assembly denouncing Russian actions.

South Africa spent the weekend in the “peace summit” on Ukraine, which was hosted by Switzerland. Even though several controversial issues were left out to get broader support, Saudi Arabia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and other countries declined to sign the final communiqué.

As the host nation for the BRICS summit in 2023, South Africa was faced with a difficult decision: even though the Russian president had an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court of Justice for allegedly deporting Ukrainian children, the country thought about inviting Putin to the event.

South Africa has maintained relations with Russia and has opened stands against Western powers in global politics in recent times.

Related Topics:Featured Russia South Africa

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Musings From Abroad

Kenya: US condemns violence as Ruto reverses tax law

Published

1 day ago

June 27, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The violence in Kenya, where doctors reported that 23 people had died this week following violent battles between protesters and police, has been condemned by the United States.

William Ruto, the President of Kenya, backed down on Wednesday from his plans to raise taxes in response to protesters who had invaded parliament, started nationwide rallies, and threatened to take further action this week.

In the most critical crisis of Ruto’s two-year administration, the move will be viewed as a huge success for a week-old, youth-led protest movement that evolved from online condemnations of tax rises into large-scale marches seeking a political overhaul.

On social media, however, some protestors said that they would still go ahead with Thursday’s march despite Ruto’s backpedalling, with many of them restating their demands that he step down.

A day after violence between police and protestors at the assembly and across the country left at least 23 people dead and several others wounded, according to medics, Ruto declared he would not sign a finance measure that included the tax increases.

“The United States is deeply concerned about and we condemn the reported violence in all its forms,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

Shortly after MPs passed the tax proposals on Tuesday, police opened fire on crowds who had gathered around parliament and then broke into the assembly’s enclosure.

“The United States has been in touch with the Kenyan government to urge appropriate use of force by the police, to respect human rights … and we will continue to push for calm to prevail,” said Kirby.

Musings From Abroad

US intelligence warns of escalating insurgencies in West Africa following withdrawal from Niger

Published

1 day ago

June 27, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

American officials are cautioning that it is getting harder to keep an eye on the escalating insurgencies in West Africa as the United States military gathers what remains of its supplies and counterterrorism forces in Niger.

The military authorities of Niger have given the United States until September 15th to withdraw its forces from the nation. This includes closing a $100 million drone base close to Agadez in central Niger, which served as a vital source of intelligence regarding organizations associated with the Islamic State and al Qaeda.

“Our ability to monitor the threat is degraded because of the loss of Agadez,” one U.S. official told Reuters in an interview, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The expansion of the Islamic State and the al Qaeda affiliate Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) are of special worry to U.S. officials.

The main difficulty facing Michael Langley, the four-star Marine general in charge of American forces in Africa, is predicting when extremist organizations would develop to the point where they could pose a threat to the US or Europe.

“It has the potential (to become a threat to the United States) as they grow in numbers. But we want to be able to monitor … to see if it metastasizes into increased capability,” Langley said, speaking on the sidelines of a conference of African chiefs of defence in Botswana.

Experts warn that it won’t be simple, and some compare it to Afghanistan, where information about the Islamic State and al Qaeda is collected at a far lower level than it was prior to the withdrawal of the United States and the Taliban takeover in 2021.

“When we leave an area like the Sahel and Afghanistan, we not only cannot (act on) an immediate threat with military and intelligence forces, we don’t know about the plotting of an attack because of our reduced (intelligence) collection capabilities,” said Mick Mulroy, a former senior Pentagon official and CIA officer.