By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Annalena Baerbock, the Foreign Minister of Germany on Tuesday arrived South Africa to meet her counterpart, Naledi Pandor, for the German-South African Bilateral Commission where critical issues such as energy security, climate change and geopolitical issues affecting Africa and Europe, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are expected to be discussed.
South Africa had in recent times battled acute power cut with the state-owned Eskom struggling to wriggle out of corruption allegation.
The former head of the power utility firm, Andre de Ruyter is currently under trouble.
The West has criticised Johannesburg for alleged backing of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine despite repeated claim by the Cyril Ramaphosa’s government that it’s neutral.
Earlier in the month, Ramaphosa led a delegation of African leaders who met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kyiv and Moscow, respectively, in an attempt to broker peace talks between the two countries.
“This war is, and we have discussed this already, is an attack on the U.N. charter, on the very rules that bind and protect us all,” Baerbock said during talks on Tuesday.
She added, “The African delegation, led by President Cyril Ramaphosa, made this very clear in St. Petersburg. This war also concerns Africa, the U.N. charter must be respected, and we are thankful for his clear words.”
The war has greatly affected food security and oil prices globally, with African countries amongst those most impacted.
“Today we are faced with different and yet equally serious global challenges in Africa and elsewhere in the world, including in Europe, where the war in Ukraine has had global ramifications,” the host Minister, Pandor said.
Earlier in the year, relations between South Africa and the United States was strained after Washington accused Pretoria of supplying arms to Russia through a Russian ship which docked in Cape Town in December 2023.
South Africa has denied the allegations.
