South Africa: Diplomatic Spat Over 'Russian Weapons Transfer' | South Africa Reports

South Africa: Diplomatic Spat Over 'Russian Weapons Transfer' Rises to Cabinet Level

The South African and United States Cabinet officials responsible for foreign affairs have stepped into the diplomatic row over the alleged transfer in South Africa of weapons to a Russian cargo vessel last December.

Amid controversy over an American claim that South Africa has supplied weapons and ammunition to a nation which has launched a war of aggression against Ukraine, South Africa's foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with one another late Friday about what Blinken described as "the vital U.S.-South Africa relationship."

The U.S.-government funded news agency, Voice of America, described the row as a diplomatic spat which "has put relations between the two friendly nations at their lowest ebb in years."

Blinken's call to Pandor was made after South Africa summoned the U.S. ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, in a diplomatic démarche to protest his remarks on Thursday that the U.S. is "confident" that weapons and ammunition were loaded onto the cargo ship Lady R at the South African naval base in Simon's Town, near Cape Town, in December 2022.

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