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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

Can South Africa Be An Honest Broker For Peace In Ukraine?

After Beijing's dubious push to lead negotiations on settling the war in Ukraine, now it's South Africa's turn. But its "ambiguous" neutrality on the war — and reports of secret weapons sales to Russia — raise serious skepticism in Kyiv and the West.

Photo of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov visits South Africa

Pierre Haski

-Analysis-

PARIS — New peace initiatives for Ukraine continue to be announced one after the other, without much success. China has just sent an envoy to Kyiv, who will continue on to Moscow and Paris soon after.

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Now, it's Africa's turn: a delegation of six African heads of state is expected soon to go to Kyiv and Moscow "to try to find a peaceful solution" to the conflict, according to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

When war is raging, all peace initiatives are welcome, of course. Still, questions remain about the true motivations behind these efforts.

China, which has an ideological alignment with Vladimir Putin's Russia, has significantly increased its purchases of Russian hydrocarbons, and took over a year to establish contact with Ukraine.

The same applies to the recently announced trip by the South African president. His country is at the center of a diplomatic storm over its relations with Russia, which raises serious questions. The peace initiative seems to come at the right time for South Africa to extricate from a diplomatic predicament.


Weapons from Cape Town?

South Africa, which has always remained “neutral” in Ukraine, is accused by the U.S. of secretly providing weapons to Russia. The American ambassador has made the accusation with very specific evidence, apparently documented by U.S. intelligence.

According to the ambassador, Russian cargo ship "Lady R" took on South African weapons and ammunition at the naval base in Cape Town in Dec. 2022, despite being subject to U.S. sanctions.

The South African government was taken by surprise. President Ramaphosa announced the opening of an investigation, as if the trade could have happened without his government's knowledge. To make matters worse, the chief of the South African army was in Moscow not long ago to strengthen military ties with the Russian army, which does not exactly appear as a sign of neutrality.

Photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin and South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa

11th BRICS leaders summit in Brazil

Mikhail Metzel/TASS

A U.S. threat

South Africa is a good example of countries that have refused to condemn the Russian invasion and play on an ambiguous "neutrality."

To understand the links between the ruling ANC party and Moscow, we need to look back to the fight against apartheid and the Soviet support. We can question this persistent loyalty with Russian aggression, but it adds to a rejection of the alignment expected by Western nations.

A peace initiative in Ukraine may make these problems fade into the background.

The problem is that South Africa benefits from preferential economic clauses from the U.S., a legacy of Nelson Mandela's presidency. Behind the scenes, Washington is threatening to revoke these benefits if the country aligns itself with Russia.

The arms issue is therefore embarrassing, as is the prospect of hosting Vladimir Putin for a BRICS Summit, the gathering of emerging countries, which is scheduled to take place in South Africa this year. Putin's indictment by the International Criminal Court creates an additional puzzle.

A peace initiative in Ukraine may make these problems fade into the background. While still wishing the African heads of state in Kyiv and Moscow the best of luck, healthy skepticism remains the order of the day.

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Society

Italy's Right-Wing Government Turns Up The Heat On 'Gastronationalism'

Rome has been strongly opposed to synthetic foods, insect-based flours and health warnings on alcohol, and aggressive lobbying by Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government against nutritional labeling has prompted accusations in Brussels of "gastronationalism."

Dough is run through a press to make pasta

Creation of home made pasta

Karl De Meyer et Olivier Tosseri

ROME — On March 23, the Italian Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Francesco Lollobrigida, announced that Rome would ask UNESCO to recognize Italian cuisine as a piece of intangible cultural heritage.

On March 28, Lollobrigida, who is also Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's brother-in-law, promised that Italy would ban the production, import and marketing of food made in labs, especially artificial meat — despite the fact that there is still no official request to market it in Europe.

Days later, Italian Eurodeputy Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of fascist leader Benito Mussolini and member of the Forza Italia party, which is part of the governing coalition in Rome, caused a sensation in the European Parliament. On the sidelines of the plenary session, Sophia Loren's niece organized a wine tasting, under the slogan "In Vino Veritas," to show her strong opposition (and that of her government) to an Irish proposal to put health warnings on alcohol bottles. At the end of the press conference, around 11am, she showed her determination by drinking from the neck of a bottle of wine, to great applause.

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