South Africa calls tune as major power contenders line up |
JOHANNESBURG, 26 january (Reuters) – South Africa and its neighbors this week Russia and USAsenior officials of trip while doing so, a rare moment of leverage for governments on a continent accustomed to being increasingly caught up in events offer was at the center of the struggle for influence. rather than admiring.
in Europe Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and USATreasury Secretary Janet Yellen is equipped with Western weapons Ukraine invader against his army Russia while fighting against their forces, both sought wider international support.
Strong ideological and historical sympathy for Russia, however European Union and USA This competition creates an opportunity for South African countries with a more significant trade balance.
“They have an opportunity to play one side against the other to get concessions, more aid, more trade,” said Steven Gruzd of the South African Institute of International Affairs. “That’s exactly what we’re seeing right now.”
The war in Ukraine is affecting Africa’s rich natural resources and its UNstrengthened the long-standing great power rivalry for access to the diplomatic prize of 54 votes.
But the African continent’s voting schemes at the United Nations Ukraine shows that he is divided about which side he will support in his war.
It is landlocked between South Africa and Mozambique and has a gross domestic product of 5 billion The small kingdom of Eswatini, which is less than a dollar, often does not attract the attention of world powers. No Russian diplomats are stationed there.
Nevertheless, Lavrov to South Africa trip after doing it, he stopped and his colleague Tulisil Dladla called it a “deep honor”. Both sides signed an agreement on visa waiver.
Eswatini relies on the United States for aid, but its absolute monarchy has suffered from US criticism over human rights.
“Multipolar”
So much for South Africa, the continent’s economic powerhouse and diplomatic heavyweight chief and it was an opportunity to poke his nose at the Western alliance, which he considered hegemon.
Lavrov’s counterpart Naledi Pandor, who received Lavrov in Pretoria, planned cooperation with Russia and China military defended the exercises as the “natural course of relations” between “friends” and said South Africa did not believe Russia should withdraw from Ukraine unless there was a peace agreement. is agreed upon.
South Africa, along with Russia and China, is pushing for a “multipolar” world in which geopolitical power is less concentrated around the United States. For this reason, it is between Brazil, Russia, India, China and itself (BRICS). offer which is political and is an enthusiastic representative of the trade union – holding a summit later this year.
“A more inclusive multipolar world. This is the vision of the BRICS family and what we all subscribe to,” South Africa’s BRICS official Anil Sooklal told Reuters.
But data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) shows that South Africa’s exports to Russia are 2020587 million in dollarsand exports to the United States 10,2 billion dollars has been
“South Africa takes BRICS very seriously, but the reality is that BRICS is very little offer said Tom Lodge, Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Limerick. “It has not delivered the benefits that South Africa hoped to achieve.”
A key trading partner, Russia’s ally China is more interested in basics like wine and wool than the high-tech value-added products South Africa wants to sell, Lodge said.
of South Africa UNto refuse to vote against Russia and NATOof Ukraine Despite denying her position on the US economy, Yellen met with South African officials and will visit mining sites on Thursday that face job losses from the US green energy transition. is the main financier.
‘VERY IMPORTANT’
Angolan aged political class still remembers its support for the then-Marxist Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in Russia’s 27-year civil war against Washington-backed rebels, the president After João Lourenço, there was a marked turn towards the West. He accepted it in 2017.
from South Africa political “Angola is one of the few African countries to condemn Russia’s actions – apparently under pressure from the EU,” risk analyst Marisa Lourenco said, noting a “strong bias towards the US and away from Russia”.
Angola also Germany, France and its former colonial ruler is seeking to deepen ties with Portugal, he said. Lourenço even in an interview with Voice of America in December of the United States military Russia in favor of the technical program military suggested that he wanted to refuse his help.
That didn’t stop Lavrov from making a courtesy call on Wednesday in Luanda, where he will use Russian soft power to allow Angolan students to go to university next year. scholarships suggested doubling it to 300. Russia’s Alrosa, the world’s largest diamond producer, owns a 41% stake in a giant mine in Angola.
Irina Filatova, emeritus humanities professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said: “Russians want to say very loudly that they are not isolated and welcome everywhere.
“(It) won’t like the US or the British (South Africa), but that doesn’t mean they’re going to stop trading,” he said. “It’s very important.”
Edited by William Maclean
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2023-01-26 11:27:07
Source – reuters
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