Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Cape Town yesterday for the first-ever visit to South Africa by a Kremlin leader as Moscow bids to reassert its superpower status.
Putin was greeted upon arrival at Cape Town airport by South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and headed to the presidential residence Tuynhuys, where he was scheduled to meet his counterpart Thabo Mbeki.
Reflecting the importance that South Africa attaches to the visit, a large number of Cabinet ministers was gathering to pay their respects to Putin at a ceremony at Tuynhuys where he was to be welcomed by a military guard of honor.
The Russian leader was later due to address parliamentary leaders and businessmen such as Nicky Oppenheimer, chairman of diamond mining group De Beers, during his two-day visit to Africa's economic powerhouse.
He is also due to pay a visit to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela, who before Mbeki led South Africa and the African National Congress (ANC), spent 18 years as a prisoner of the former apartheid state.
Much of the ANC leadership was schooled in the former Soviet Union, including Mbeki, who underwent military training in Russia as a young man.
But as the end of the apartheid era coincided with the collapse of the Soviet Union, a potentially fruitful diplomatic relationship failed to take root.
Reasserting influence
Putin's visit to South Africa, to be followed by a trip to Morocco, is seen as part of a drive by Moscow to reassert its diplomatic influence in Africa and in particular with a country that has its own eyes on a place at the UN Security Council table.
In an interview published on the eve of Putin's arrival, Dlamini-Zuma said cooperation with Russia would enable Africa to "have its voice heard" on international matters.
"We hope to develop our relations in the aerospace, energy and military-industrial spheres," she added in an interview with the official Russian newspaper Rossiskaya Gazeta.
A large delegation of Russian businessmen is accompanying Putin, led by metals magnate Viktor Vekselberg.
The volume of bilateral trade has grown steadily in recent years, with South Africa exporting around US$130 million worth of goods to Russia in 2004.
Putin has made clear of his intentions to deepen economic ties during his visit.
"Detailed talks are expected on a whole range of bilateral trade and economic links, aimed at pushing them to a significantly higher level," said a statement from the Kremlin. "Among other things to be discussed are promising projects in areas such as energy, oil and gas, space technology and investment activity."
Zwelethu Jolobe, a lecturer in international affairs at the University of Cape Town, said Putin's visit would be a chance for Moscow to forge closer ties with a natural ally that it has neglected in the recent past.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the