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00:00 South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa is seen as leading this delegation of African leaders.
00:04 Let's speak to our correspondent in Cape Town, Nadine Theron.
00:06 Hello to you, Nadine.
00:07 Tell us a little bit more about what this delegation is hoping to accomplish.
00:11 Well, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on the eve of his departure that this is because
00:18 the effects of the war has spilled over to Africa and it's had a massive impact on African
00:25 people.
00:26 The world has really felt this war harshly from the secondary effects, and that is, of
00:30 course, because of the African countries not being able to import enough grain from Ukraine
00:37 and Russia.
00:38 And then the other issue is not being able to import enough fertilizer.
00:42 And South Africa, for example, gets about 60 percent of its fertilizer from Russia.
00:46 So local farmers are also struggling to meet food demands because of a need for fertilizer.
00:52 Not only is there a need for grain and food prices across the African continent have rised
00:58 and skyrocketed over the past year.
01:00 So it's really become a food security issue.
01:03 And I think that President Cyril Ramaphosa also wants to make a political statement.
01:08 Some have speculated that this visit, this peace mission, has come on the back of a very
01:15 icy relationship between South Africa and the United States.
01:19 And it seems that President Cyril Ramaphosa wants to show that South Africa is not aligned
01:24 with Russia.
01:25 That South Africa has taken a neutral stance and wants peace between the two countries.
01:30 And this move seems to come from there.
01:34 It was very quickly organized.
01:35 It seemed to have come out of nowhere.
01:38 And we are a bit unsure about what the plan is that the African peace mission will be
01:42 presenting.
01:43 Why would the West or the U.S. be putting pressure on South Africa?
01:49 Well, yes, the U.S. is placing the most pressure on South Africa.
01:54 And that's because of allegations that South Africa is indeed arming Russia because of
01:59 a Russian ship seen at the South African Navy offloading and perhaps also loading some ammunition
02:06 onto the ship.
02:07 And that's been revealed by the opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, and it's currently
02:12 being investigated.
02:13 But in the meantime, South Africa's foreign minister has hosted many Russian ministers
02:18 over the past year.
02:20 South Africa's Minister of Defense has been seen celebrating Russian Motherland Defense
02:25 Day.
02:26 South Africa has hosted military exercises with Russia over the past year.
02:29 And all of these things really makes it seem like South Africa is closer to Russia than
02:34 the Ukraine.
02:35 Now, the United States has been, you know, activated a bit more by the Democratic Alliance
02:42 leader, Alan Wendy.
02:43 He's the premier of the Western Cape in South Africa.
02:46 And he's taken this opportunity to visit the U.S. and to lobby for South Africa to take
02:52 a stance.
02:54 The Democratic Alliance wants South Africa to remain as part of the African Growth and
02:59 Opportunities Agreement.
03:01 And they say it's for the good of the whole country.
03:03 But that's a bit strange, since he's the leader of the opposition and it's not actually the
03:07 president.
03:09 This also comes on the back of some members of the Biden administration publishing a letter
03:15 in the New York Times where they accused South Africa of supporting Russian and possibly
03:20 breaking U.S. sanction laws.
03:22 They want to punish South Africa by moving the AGOA meeting to another country.
03:28 All right, Nadine.
03:29 Thank you very much.
03:30 Nadine Theron reporting from Cape Town.
03:31 [BLANK_AUDIO]