President Cyril Ramaphosa’s protection is still stuck in Poland, while he has touched down in Kyiv to hold talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Cyril Ramaphosa’s security was compromised on his way to “negotiate peace” in Ukraine. His Protection Service were stuck at the airport in Poland for more than 11 hours. Cyril’s flight was flagged by the Italian govt. They had to round Mediterranean waters more than 6 times.
There has been a diplomatic standoff between South African officials and their Polish counterparts on the runway of the airport in the Polish capital, Warsaw.
Polish authorities have threatened to confiscate weapons and equipment on board an SAA charter flight carrying security forces meant to protect President Cyril Ramaphosa during his visits to Ukraine and Russia on the African peace mission.
Ramaphosa stopped off in Warsaw before catching a train to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Thursday night, as the head of his protection unit, Wally Rhoode accused Polish authorities of racism and of jeopardising the president’s security.
Standoff at Warsaw airport after officials try to confiscate weapons from Ramaphosa’s Presidential Protection UnitSouth Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa offered no timeline or proposals when he made the announcement last month, joining a crowded field of would-be peacemakers that includes China, Turkey and the Pope.
“What is the strategic thrust of this intervention?” asks Kingsley Makhubela, a South African risk analyst and former diplomat. “It’s not clear. Is this a photo op by African heads of state?”
The mission is an unusual burst of activism given Africa’s largely hands-off approach to a conflict that many here see primarily as a confrontation between Russia and the West.
It is also a rare attempt at diplomatic intervention outside the continent – a “welcome development” given Africa’s growing demand to have a bigger voice at the UN and other international organisations, says Murithi Mutiga, Africa director at the International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank.
