{"id":11751,"date":"2022-03-05T20:33:36","date_gmt":"2022-03-05T20:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/us-and-eu-push-south-africa-to-pick-a-side-in-russia-ukraine-crisis"},"modified":"2022-03-05T21:05:12","modified_gmt":"2022-03-05T21:05:12","slug":"us-and-eu-push-south-africa-to-pick-a-side-in-russia-ukraine-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/us-and-eu-push-south-africa-to-pick-a-side-in-russia-ukraine-crisis","title":{"rendered":"US and EU push South Africa to \u2018pick a side\u2019 in Russia-Ukraine crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>The US urged South Africa to clarify its stance on the war in Ukraine, backing the European Union\u2019s push for President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s administration to take a harder line against the Russian incursion.<\/p>\n

On the day the invasion began, South Africa\u2019s foreign ministry urged Russia to immediately withdraw its forces and respect Ukraine\u2019s territorial integrity. A day later, Ramaphosa took a different tack, saying US President Joe Biden should have agreed to an unconditional meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to avert war, and called for dialogue.<\/p>\n

While the US supports South Africa\u2019s call for negotiations, it also wants a strong, unified stance against Russia, acting US Ambassador Todd Haskell said in remarks aired on Johannesburg-based broadcaster eNCA.<\/p>\n

He cited a quote by Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, repeated by former South African Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, that failing to take a position in conflicts between oppressors and the oppressed means to side with the oppressor, not to be neutral.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think it\u2019s really important when we look at this unprovoked aggression, this attack against democracy, Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine, Putin\u2019s war on Ukraine \u2014 it\u2019s important to say this is wrong,\u201d Haskell said.<\/p>\n

South Africa was among 16 of Africa\u2019s 54 nations that, like China and India, abstained this week from voting on a United Nations resolution condemning the incursion. Eight other African nations weren\u2019t present for the vote and one \u2014 Eritrea \u2014 opposed it.<\/p>\n

The African antipathy toward censuring Putin\u2019s administration partly reflected their military links to Russia, Kenyan political activist Nanjala Nyaboka said on Twitter. Africa bought almost 50% of its military equipment from Russia in 2015\u20132019, almost double its weapons imports from the US and China, according to the South African Institute of International Affairs.<\/p>\n

Russia also has a huge military presence in Africa. @LaurenBinDC shared this graphic a few days ago. Layer this map with how the UN vote went and you see a lot of correlation. The Global North doesn\u2019t have a monopoly on acting for its own self interest. pic.twitter.com\/vYiUdGaZjI<\/p>\n

\u2014 Nanjala Nyabola (@Nanjala1) March 2, 2022<\/p>\n

South Africa\u2019s response to the war reflects an attempt to balance historic ties to Russia with its economic links to the US and Europe.<\/p>\n

Russia was a key ally in the ruling African National Congress\u2019s fight against White-minority rule that ended in 1994, and like South Africa it is a member of the five-nation group of emerging markets known as BRICS. Still, Russia\u2019s economic ties to South Africa are negligible when compared with the EU and the US, which along with China rank as its top three trading partners.<\/p>\n

EU Ambassador to South Africa Riina Kionka also expressed frustration with South Africa\u2019s position.<\/p>\n

\u201cSitting on the fence is not an option,\u201d she said in an emailed response to questions. \u201cOnce we figure out what the South African government stance really is\u201d the EU will consider what the repercussions are, she said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. The US urged South Africa to clarify its stance on the war in Ukraine, backing the European Union\u2019s push for President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s administration to take a harder line against the Russian incursion. On the day the invasion began, South Africa\u2019s foreign ministry urged Russia to immediately withdraw its forces and respect […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":11750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,9],"tags":[2355,2361,260,4944,3121],"class_list":["post-11751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-gambia","tag-ukraine-crisis","tag-us"],"yoast_head":"\nUS and EU push South Africa to \u2018pick a side\u2019 in Russia-Ukraine crisis - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The US urged South Africa to clarify its stance on the war in Ukraine, backing the European Union\u2019s push for President C ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/us-and-eu-push-south-africa-to-pick-a-side-in-russia-ukraine-crisis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US and EU push South Africa to \u2018pick a side\u2019 in Russia-Ukraine crisis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The US urged South Africa to clarify its stance on the war in Ukraine, backing the European Union\u2019s push for President C ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/us-and-eu-push-south-africa-to-pick-a-side-in-russia-ukraine-crisis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-05T20:33:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-05T21:05:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/03\/img-6223d0600fd65.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"731\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"491\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/us-and-eu-push-south-africa-to-pick-a-side-in-russia-ukraine-crisis#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/us-and-eu-push-south-africa-to-pick-a-side-in-russia-ukraine-crisis\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"US and EU push South Africa to \u2018pick a side\u2019 in Russia-Ukraine crisis\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-05T20:33:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-05T21:05:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/us-and-eu-push-south-africa-to-pick-a-side-in-russia-ukraine-crisis\"},\"wordCount\":520,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/us-and-eu-push-south-africa-to-pick-a-side-in-russia-ukraine-crisis#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/03\/img-6223d0600fd65.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"Gambia\",\"Ukraine Crisis\",\"US\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/us-and-eu-push-south-africa-to-pick-a-side-in-russia-ukraine-crisis#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/us-and-eu-push-south-africa-to-pick-a-side-in-russia-ukraine-crisis\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/us-and-eu-push-south-africa-to-pick-a-side-in-russia-ukraine-crisis\",\"name\":\"US and EU push South Africa to \u2018pick a side\u2019 in Russia-Ukraine crisis - 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