Did South Africa sell arms to Russia? Only a series of unlikely scenarios could have made it possible
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火曜日, 5月 16, 2023
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On 11 May 2023 the US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, claimed that South Africa had secretly exported arms to Russia in December 2022.
Key Points:
- On 11 May 2023 the US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, claimed that South Africa had secretly exported arms to Russia in December 2022.
- The announcement rapidly fed into a popular narrative that South Africa was increasingly siding with Russia in relation to Moscow’s aggressive war in Ukraine.
- Brigety’s statements made both South African and international news headlines, including the Wall Street Journal, CNN and the Financial Times.
- Furthermore, as demonstrated in the UN Register of Conventional Arms database, Russia has rarely imported South African arms.
Imports and exports
- Indeed the Arms Control Committee’s 2019 arms import report lists the permit approval for the import of five million rounds of Russian ammunition to South Africa.
- Over the years, even the US and the UK have imported arms from Russia according to the UN Register of Conventional Arms.
- Reports at the time indicate that containers were offloaded in the harbour and then transported to secure locations under tight security.
US accusations of South African arms to Russia
- Brigety claimed that the US government had intelligence reports indicating that prior to the Lady R departing from Simon’s Town, South African ammunition and possibly arms were loaded onto the vessel and then transported to Russia.
- South Africa has one of the most comprehensive arms export laws in Africa, the cornerstones of which are transparency and human rights considerations.
- Traditionally Russia could be considered a South African ally due to the BRICS arrangement.
- However, reports of Russian perpetrated human rights abuses in Ukraine would most likely override other considerations in terms of South Africa’s arms export considerations.
- All arms export applications by arms exporters are carefully considered by a scrutiny committee and, thereafter, by the National Conventional Arms Control Committee.
- The annual arms export reports show that South Africa generally adheres to the Section 15 criteria.
- If the Arms Control Committee had considered an application to export arms and or ammunition to Russia, then consensus among cabinet ministers would have been necessary.
The devil is in the intelligence reports
- But such an endeavour would have required the payment of considerable bribes to officials on the docks and the manufacture of fraudulent export documentation.
- The crux of the arms-to-Russia allegations relates to the content of the US intelligence reports.