A warming between SA and the US

On the eve of the 15th BRICS summit, both South Africa and US diplomatic sources say they believe that relations between the two countries have improved, with the US adding that there has been more engagement in the past six months than in the last decade.The BRICS summit, which starts in Sandton on Wednesday afternoon (today), will highlight South Africa's relationship with two of the US's global opponents: Russia, with which it is indirectly at war, and China, with which it is engaged in a growing contest for geopolitical influence. In an address to the nation on Sunday evening, President Cyril Ramaphosa stressed that South Africa was non-aligned and would not take sides in the conflict between global superpowers. A crisis in US-SA relations was provoked in May when US Ambassador Reuben Brigety claimed that SA had loaded arms onto a Russian ship. Leaked reports have said the claims were unfounded. But the threat to the relationship provoked a flurry of diplomatic efforts. Zane Dangor, director general of the department of international relations and co-operation (Dirco), said in an interview on Tuesday that relations with the West but particularly with the US, had markedly improved.While SA says that it supports the UN charter and condemns Russia's illegal use of force, it has refused to condemn its invasion of Ukraine."We've used our statements to criticise Russia for unlawful use of force, which is against the charter, but we didn't go out and condemn them in a way that we would not be able to convene any talks with them. And they (Russia) were not happy about it. After one of the explanations of votes, they said that our actions were hostile," says Dangor.Asked if diplomatic relations with South Africa had improved in the past six months, US Embassy spokesperson David Feldmann said that the "steady stream" of high-level and working-level engagements was evidence of a clear commitment by both parties to the relationship.At the highest level, this included meetings between US President Joe Biden and Ramaphosa in Washington and between Secretary of State Blinken and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and their counterparts in Pretoria. –Fin24

A warming between SA and the US

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