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A government investigation into a Russian shipment contradicts U. S. accusations that South Africa is arming to fight Ukraine, President Cyril Ramaphosa said. But no government report will be published, he added.
By John Eligon and Lynsey Chutel
Report from Johannesburg and Simon’s Town, South Africa
An investigation by the South African government concluded that weapons were loaded onto a Russian ship under U. S. sanctions that docked near Cape Town last year, contradicting allegations made by U. S. officials that South Africa had provided weapons for the war in Ukraine, President Cyril Ramaphosa said. Said. Sunday.
“The panel found no evidence that a shipment of weapons for export had been loaded onto the Lady R ship,” Ramaphosa said in a televised address, following an investigation commissioned through him and led by a retired judge.
Ramaphosa said he would not hand over the full report to classified information, but that a summary would be made public on Monday.
It remains to be seen whether those findings will ease relations between South Africa and the United States, which have reached their peak in years, largely due to the dispute over what happened when the Lady R, an advertising shipping ship, docked at a South African naval base, under the afternoon canopy last December.
In May, U. S. Ambassador to South Africa Reuben E. Brigety II, made the important decision to publicly accuse South Africa of loading weapons on the Lady R, stating that he would bet his life on it based on the intelligence he had seen. Provoking a backlash in South Africa, Brigety was summoned to meet with Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor and, according to South African officials, apologized for his public statement.
Since then, the country’s officials have tried to heal the wounds, but threats persist that the United States will simply revoke South Africa’s industrial privileges.
During the South African investigation, the panel visited a naval base in Simon’s Town, interviewed more than 50 people and reviewed more than a hundred documents. The officials who made those claims were also asked to provide evidence, but did not show it. or said they had no firsthand information, M. said. Ramaphosa in his speech.
“None of the other people who made those allegations can simply provide evidence of the allegations against our country,” he said.
According to the South African president, these accusations have broken the country’s economy and its position in the world, and have called into question the country’s position in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Ramaphosa accompanied his announcement with a comment on the good fortune of the recent emerging markets assembly held in Johannesburg, where the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China, along with South Africa — an organization known as BRICS — reiterated their even-handed stance on the war. while Russian President Vladimir Putin used his platform to attack the West.
South African officials have embraced the sentiment — supported by Putin and China’s most sensible leader, Xi Jinping — of creating a new global order revolving around the West.
South Africa’s decision to tighten ties with Russia, despite its invasion of Ukraine, has been a major sore point for the United States and other Western allies. This close alliance dates back to the time when the Soviet Union supported the fight against the Soviet Union. apartheid regime in South Africa.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, South African officials have said they maintain an even-handed stance and need a nonviolent solution, while refusing to decide which side is in a superpower war.
But the United States and other Western countries have accused South Africa of respecting its neutrality. In February, South Africa conducted naval exercises with Russia and China. In May, it allowed a Russian cargo plane subject to U. S. sanctions to land at a nearby air base. And last month, Ramaphosa warmly welcomed Mr. Putin at a Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. Mr Ramaphosa has been one of Mr Ramaphosa’s most powerful supporters. Putin on his continent.
Beyond the US ambassador’s accusations, much of the suspicion surrounding the Lady R arose from the cases surrounding the ship’s arrival off the South African coast last year.
Windward, a company that uses artificial intelligence to analyze maritime activity, analyzed the ship’s movements for The New York Times and found that over the past decade, the Lady R has traveled almost exclusively in the same direction between Novorossiysk, Russia and China repeatedly.
But last October, the Lady R set sail on a path it had never taken before and that circled Africa, according to Dror Salzman, an analyst at Windward, who provides studies to the United Nations. This new direction was unusual, Salzman said, because the ships change their course as drastically as when they have new owners or sail under new flags, which was not the case with the Russian ship, owned by Transmorflot.
After making several stops, including the ports of Togo and Cameroon, the ship stopped in early December just outside South African territorial waters, near Cape Aiguilles at the southern tip of the continent. The transponder indicating his location then turned According to M. Salzman, turned off and did not turn on again until 4 days later, near the same place.
During the days when the transponder was turned off, citizens of Simon’s Town, about 40 miles south of Cape Town and home to a South African naval base, reported seeing the ship docked there. Retired naval officials living in Simon’s Town and citizens said the trucks Retired officials said they also found it suspicious that the shipment had been unloaded overnight.
The Lady R sailed from Simon’s Town on the ninth of December. It flew along the east coast of Africa and, before docking in Mozambique, its transponder exploded for just over a day, Mr Salzman.
Thandi Modise, South Africa’s defence minister, said Lady R was delivering an order for aircraft for the South African Defence Force that was placed in 2018-19 but may not be delivered due to the pandemic. No weapons were loaded onto the ship, he said.
John Eligon returned from Johannesburg and Lynsey Chutel from Simon’s Town, South Africa.
John Eligon is the head of the Johannesburg office, responsible for southern Africa. In the past he worked as a journalist in the National, Sports and Metro offices. His paintings brought him from the streets of Minneapolis after George Floyd’s death to South Africa for the funeral. by Nelson Mandela. Learn more about John Eligon
Lynsey Chutel covers southern Africa from the Johannesburg office and also writes about Africa for the Times’ foreign morning newsletters. In the past, he worked for Foreign Policy, Quartz and the Associated Press. Learn more about Lynsey Chutel
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