Published on : 08/08/2022 – 18:14Modified : 08/08/2022 – 21:10
Anthony Blinken is visiting the African continent. The American Secretary of State arrived in South Africa on Sunday August 8. This visit aims to relaunch the dialogue with Africa which had disappeared under the presidency of Donald Trump, but it also visits to thwart Russian influence on the continent. It should be remembered that, at the end of July, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov traveled to Congo-Brazzaville, Uganda, Egypt and Ethiopia.
South Africa is thus the first stage of this tour, a strategic country for Washington. Indeed, since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Pretoria has taken a neutral stance and refused to join Western calls to condemn Moscow.
Remember that relations between Washington and Pretoria have sometimes been strained in the past. Thus, South Africa has never digested NATO’s military intervention in Libya in 2011.
Moreover, historically, the ANC, the party in power, has been close to the Soviet bloc and, for ten years, South Africa has been a member of BRICS, which brings together the so-called emerging economies including Russia and China.
Washington therefore wishes to strengthen ties with South Africa. ” Pretoria is a vital partner “, insisted, this Monday morning, Antony Blinken after his meeting with the head of South African diplomacy, Naledi Pandor.
« IT ISgiven your economic weight, your leadership, your membership in the G20, your influence within the G77, given the crucial work that South Africa undertakes in areas such as health, climate, democracy, regional security and so many other things, what South Africa says, what South Africa does has a big impact. All this makes this strategic dialogue between our countries vital. », said Antony Blinken.
Terrific to meet with Foreign Minister @DIRCO_ZA Pandor today in Pretoria to strengthen the enduring ties between our countries and advance shared priorities through the U.S.-South Africa Strategic Dialogue. pic.twitter.com/DO8KUa6dHN
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) August 8, 2022
For her part, Naledi Pandor indicated that they had had very frank discussions, even if sometimes they did not agree and, she added: “ it didn’t affect our friendship. »
Publicly, not a word about Ukraine, but we imagine that this is part of the disagreements mentioned.
The United States is reorienting its African policy
A little later, on Monday, in a speech at the University of Pretoria, Antony Blinken affirmed that ” The United States will not dictate Africa’s choices and no one else should. »
The United States and African countries will not be able to achieve their common goal of recovering from the Covid epidemic or tackling climate change ” if we don’t work together as equals “said the US Secretary of State. For this, he unveiled a new American strategy for the years to come.
« Washington does not consider Africa as a field where the great powers clash. This is not how we see our commitment to the continent “, he defended himself, while accusing Moscow and Beijing of creating instability on the continent to derive a strategic and financial advantage.
Blinken defended himself from imposing a choice between these two powers and the Western bloc, but regretted the recourse to authoritarian power.
Sign of this new interest of the United States for the continent, an American-African summit scheduled for December 13 in Washington.
Read also: The head of the American diplomacy Antony Blinken begins his African tour by South Africa
The American Secretary of State will travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday, August 9, then to Rwanda the next day.