Day: January 27, 2023

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wraps up a 10-day visit to Africa on Saturday that included stops in Senegal, Zambia and South Africa, where she met Friday with philanthropists on climate change.

Throughout her trip, Yellen sought to underscore the importance of the growing and youthful continent, saying “the United States’ strategy toward Africa is centered around a simple recognition: that Africa will shape the future of the global economy.”

The administration of President Joe Biden has emphasized its commitment to the region, rolling out a new policy for sub-Saharan Africa in August and hosting the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in December.

Analysts say the reengagement comes after Africa received limited attention from former president Donald Trump’s administration, and as leading trade partner China continues to dominate the region economically, while Russia is working to strengthen military and diplomatic ties.

Yellen arrived shortly after a visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to South Africa, which has taken an officially neutral stance on the war in Ukraine and is planning to host controversial joint naval drills with Russia and China off the coast of the city of Durban next month.

Bob Wekesa, head of the African Center for the Study of the United States in Johannesburg, said the timing of the visits shows both Russia and the U.S. are trying to woo Africa.

“Is it a coincidence that both Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and U.S. Treasure Secretary Janet Yellen have done their Africa trip early in the year, coinciding, in fact almost meeting together?” Wekesa said. “In my view it’s not a coincidence in itself because there’s a very big geopolitical battle that has just intensified over the couple of months since first Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

Brooks Spector, associate editor at South African newspaper the Daily Maverick and a retired American diplomat, echoed that assessment.

“The competition now, on the African continent between Russia and the United States and China and the United States has become much more visible and in many ways much more significant than it was a decade or so ago,” Spector said. “With Russia of course, the challenge is geopolitical and security, whereas with China the challenge is largely economic and trade-oriented.”

Yellen has used her trip to criticize both Beijing and Moscow. Her remarks in Zambia about China being a “barrier” to the heavily indebted nation’s debt restructuring drew ire from Beijing. She has also blamed “Russia’s brutal war” for raising energy prices and causing food insecurity in Africa.

The U.S. is South Africa’s third-largest trading partner. Yellen has announced a new joint task force aimed at preventing wildlife trafficking, pledged to increase trade and investment, and praised the country for aiming to tackle its current power crisis and reliance on coal through a “just energy transition” partnership with the U.S.

But so far on her South Africa visit, Yellen — who had a closed-door meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa — has refrained publicly from talking about the upcoming naval exercises or Pretoria’s stance on Ukraine.

Spector said the topics — not usually ground covered by a treasury secretary — would likely have come up “regardless of the brief.”

“When Secretary Yellen arrived, she had an entire basket of issues to be tackled, a whole range of things, some of which transcended the more normal topics that a treasury secretary might have wanted to talk about, including, not surprisingly, the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

When South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana met with Yellen on Thursday, he noted her visit was a “momentous occasion” because no U.S. treasury secretary had visited in eight years.

Asked whether the minister’s remarks could be seen as a criticism of the U.S. for ignoring Africa, David Feldmann, the mission spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, told VOA, “We refer you to the South African finance minister for any interpretation of what he said.”

The South African treasury did not reply to a request for comment.

To underscore the importance of the continent, it’s expected that both U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden will visit this year.

Source: Voice of America

The European Union’s top general said Friday that Russia is taking the war in Ukraine into a “different stage,” launching indiscriminate attacks against civilians and cities, as a reaction to recent decisions by NATO allies to send advanced armaments to Ukraine in support of its war effort.

Speaking at a news conference in Tokyo, European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino, told reporters Russia is no longer focused on military targets but is making indiscriminate attacks on cities and people.

“I think that this latest development in terms of armed supply is just an evolution of the situation and of the way Russia started moving the war into a different stage,” he said.

“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has moved from a concept of [a] special [military] operation to a concept now of a war against NATO and the West,” Sannino noted.

The comments came as Germany and the United States announced this week they will send advanced battle tanks to Ukraine, hoping to match the fire power Russia has on the ground.

Seemingly in response, Ukraine authorities report Russia launched new missile attacks on several Ukraine locations, killing 11 people Thursday and 10 more on Friday, wounding dozens of others.

The EU general said the new supplies from the West are not an escalation, but rather an effort to give Ukraine a chance to defend itself. He said the developments have forced Putin to change his initial narrative, in which he described the invasion as a “special operation” to free Ukraine from a Nazi regime.

“Now we are speaking about a war with NATO and the West. Different story,” Sannino said.

In his daily address to the nation Thursday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed gratitude for the growing number of countries pledging advanced weaponry, including tanks, while at the same time pressing the need to hasten delivery of the promised weapons systems.

Zelenskyy said the only way to stop “this Russian aggression” is with “adequate weapons.” He emphasized, “The terrorist state will not understand anything else.”

The Ukrainian president also credited western supplies for added protection from the latest attacks. “Today, thanks to the air defense systems provided to Ukraine and the professionalism of our warriors, we managed to shoot down most of the Russian missiles and Shaheds,” Zelenskyy said in his address.

“Unfortunately, it is difficult to provide 100% protection with air defense alone. Especially when terrorists use ballistic missiles,” he added.

In a post to his Telegram social media account, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said, “Moscow’s forces continued to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in the depth of winter, an effort to demoralize Ukrainians. The main goal is energy facilities, providing Ukrainians with light and heat.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person was killed in the Ukrainian capital and two more were wounded when a missile hit a building. The state prosecutor general’s office said three people were killed in a Russian strike on infrastructure in Zaporizhzhia, where Europe’s biggest nuclear plant is located, and there were reports of strikes in the Vinnytsia region in western Ukraine and outside Odesa.

Source: Voice of America

JOHANNESBURG — The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell visited South Africa on Friday, urging Pretoria to use its ties with Russia to convince Moscow to stop its war on Ukraine.

Borrell’s trip to South Africa is the latest in a whirlwind week that has seen visits by both Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Analysts say the flurry of diplomatic activity comes as the West and Russia both seek South Africa’s support regarding the war in Ukraine. Pretoria has strong historic ties with Moscow and has taken an officially neutral stance on the conflict, to the dismay of Washington and Brussels.

“I very much hope that South Africa, our strategic partner, will use its good relations with Russia and the role it plays in the BRICS group to convince Russia to stop this senseless war,” Borrell said at a press conference. BRICS is an informal group of states comprising the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Borrell said South Africa could make an important contribution this way, but South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor said it was the task of the world to make peace.

Earlier this week, Pandor gave Lavrov a warm welcome in Pretoria. Asked by a reporter whether she would repeat the call made by her ministry early last year for Russia to withdraw from Ukraine, she said she would not, noting the massive transfer of arms to Ukraine that had since occurred.

Next month, South Africa will host much-criticized military exercises with China and Russia. Borrell said Pretoria has the right to follow its own foreign policy, but he noted the drills were not what the EU “would have preferred.”

Source: Voice of America