{"id":687771,"date":"2023-05-13T07:25:20","date_gmt":"2023-05-13T05:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=687771"},"modified":"2023-05-13T07:25:20","modified_gmt":"2023-05-13T05:25:20","slug":"south-africa-and-the-us-make-up-but-russian-arms-allegations-still-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/687771\/south-africa-and-the-us-make-up-but-russian-arms-allegations-still-stand\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa and the US make up &#8211; but Russian arms allegations still stand"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa and the US sought to make amends after the US ambassador was summoned in protest over his accusation that the country had provided weapons to Russia.<\/p>\n<p>The government in Pretoria said Reuben Brigety \u201cadmitted that he crossed the line and apologized unreservedly.\u201d That followed South African officials expressing \u201cutter displeasure with his conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both sides pledged partnership and a commitment to working together, even as neither addressed the veracity of his claim that South Africa is sending weapons to Russia for the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>Brigety said in a tweet late Friday that he was grateful for the chance to \u201ccorrect any misimpressions left by my public remarks.\u201d A State Department spokesperson didn\u2019t dispute South Africa\u2019s characterization of his statement as an apology.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The meeting between USA Ambassador to South Africa <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReubenBrigety?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ReubenBrigety<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DIRCO_ZA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@DIRCO_ZA<\/a><br \/>\ntook place this afternoon. We conveyed our displeasure with his conduct and he admitted that he crossed the line and apologised unreservedly. The relations between the USA &amp; South Africa are cordial,\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5pBxTgyI82\">pic.twitter.com\/5pBxTgyI82<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Clayson Monyela (@ClaysonMonyela) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ClaysonMonyela\/status\/1657097215150546952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 12, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Brigety had been summoned to a meeting Friday, a day after he told a media briefing he would \u201cbet my life\u201d on the claim that weapons had been loaded onto a Russian cargo ship, the Lady R, at Cape Town in December.<\/p>\n<p>The spat had led to a new round of tension between the US and a country it has been trying to win over as part of its campaign to project global unity against Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. South Africa has so far refused to condemn Russia\u2019s invasion despite pressure from the US and its allies.<\/p>\n<p>The tit-for-tat caused the rand to slump to its weakest level on record against the dollar and yields on government bonds to soar Friday, amid investor concern that any escalation in the diplomatic dispute may put trade worth billions of dollars at risk.<\/p>\n<p>The US is \u201cconfident that weapons were loaded into that vessel,\u201d Brigety said. The direct accusation was decidedly blunt for a US government representative looking to maintain relations with a key partner, and amounted to a breach of diplomatic protocol at the very least.<\/p>\n<p>In a further sign of the US determination to patch things up after the back and forth, the State Department said Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor and \u201cunderscored the importance of the US-South Africa strategic partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>South Africa\u2019s presidency said Brigety\u2019s comments were \u201cdisappointing\u201d and no evidence had been produced to back up the claim. At the same time, officials agreed to start an independent investigation. Pandor\u2019s spokesman said the country welcomed any inquiry by President Cyril Ramaphosa to \u201cestablish the facts and role players.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf any crimes were committed, the law will take its course,\u201d said Pandor\u2019s spokesman, Clayson Monyela.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2018Misled by Officials\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The inquiry ordered by Ramaphosa will consider whether South Africa\u2019s defence department was \u201cmisled by officials\u201d about the contents of the Russian vessel, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said by phone.<\/p>\n<p>European diplomats contacted by Bloomberg said that while they weren\u2019t given warning of Brigety\u2019s comments, the remarks came as no surprise. They said the shipment has been the subject of unanswered queries made by diplomats to the South African government for months.<\/p>\n<p>The US ambassador\u2019s comments were almost certainly sanctioned by Washington, they said, and while they don\u2019t expect South Africa to face immediate economic consequences \u2014 at least from the European Union \u2014 the furor served as a warning that decisions have consequences, they said.<\/p>\n<p>The diplomats noted that South Africa\u2019s ruling party has frequently provoked the US in recent months, and that while Pretoria has the right to choose its allies, so does America. They asked not to be identified as their countries haven\u2019t commented publicly on the dispute.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Putin Call<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Ramaphosa on Friday at Pretoria\u2019s initiative and discussed the \u201cstrategic partnership\u201d between the two nations, the Kremlin said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The two leaders also noted \u201cthe importance of continuing close coordination\u201d ahead of a Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg in July and a BRICS summit that South Africa will host in August, it said.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa is wrestling with Putin\u2019s participation at the meeting of the economic bloc after the International Criminal Court in March issued an arrest warrant for him for alleged war crimes in Ukraine. As a signatory to the court, it would be obliged to detain Putin if he arrives in South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>The Kremlin statement made no mention of the controversy over Brigety\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n<p>A group of special envoys sent recently by Ramaphosa to the US to \u201cshare information and exchange ideas\u201d will brief the media about the trip on Saturday, the department of international relations said in a statement.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/687761\/south-africa-is-free-to-choose-its-friends-but-so-is-the-united-states\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">South Africa is free to choose its friends \u2013 but so is the United States<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US ambassador has &#8220;apologised unreservedly&#8221; for not going through the proper channels when accusing South Africa of arming Russia &#8211; but his accusations still stand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":657341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-687771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=687771"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":687773,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687771\/revisions\/687773"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=687771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=687771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=687771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}