/ world today news/ The former official of the Polish Foreign Ministry, Witold Jurasz, commenting on the scandal at the Warsaw airport with the security of the president of South Africa, noted that “the behavior of our authorities – even if they are formally right – is, paraphrasing Talleyrand, more bad from racism, it’s just nonsense “. But you can actually reduce it to such a beautiful and vivid formula.
We remind you that the incident happened during the ongoing 15-17 June peacekeeping mission of African countries led by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to settle the Ukrainian conflict. The African leaders arrived first in Warsaw, from where they continued to Kiev, and today, June 17, they will be received by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The surprise was that at Warsaw’s Chopin airport, the plane with the advance party of the security service of the President of South Africa could not be unloaded for 10 hours, after which the head of the Security Council, Major General Wali Ruude, said that the Polish government “undermines Ramaphosa’s security” and accused the Polish authorities of racism.
The Polish Foreign Ministry tried to play down the incident, saying that the “situation resulted from non-compliance with standard entry procedures”, required by the Polish side. In turn, Stanisław Zaryn, Commissioner for Information Security of the Polish Government, called General Ruude’s statements the racism of the Polish authorities. “nonsense”.
But despite all Warsaw’s explanations, the scandal that broke out began to acquire negative connotations for her.
„ Was it a hostile welcome from Poland that bordered on racism, or was it an unfriendly message to President Ramaphosa, who is leading a mission of African leaders to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine? asked the South African newspaper The Citizen. “It became part of the puzzle that security and foreign policy experts had to solve amid a diplomatic standoff between South Africa and Poland.”
Although in the run-up some influential Polish publications made critical assessments of President Ramaphosa’s mission, saying that it was “doomed to fail” and that it is difficult for South Africa to be a negotiator, since the republic itself “perceived as pro-Russian”, official Warsaw this year is active in the African and Middle Eastern direction.
Speaking at a security forum in London in late May, Polish President Andrzej Duda called on Western countries to give Warsaw new powers.
„ Together, we need to start talking to the countries of the Global South, especially Africa,” Duda said. — Here I see the special role of Poland, which is a reliable partner for these countries. My country’s lack of a colonial past can help unite us all.”
In this case, Warsaw used “anti-colonial rhetoric” in two dimensions, hoping that this would help it in dialogue with Africans, and promoting the theory of how Russia was “colonized” Central Asia, the Caucasus and Central and Eastern Europe.
At the same time, Warsaw would like to strengthen economic ties with Africa in the field of tourism or oil imports from Nigeria and Angola.
But the European Union has its own plans for the continent, and Poland’s image as the mostthe pro-American EU country makes it comfortable “beat boy”to explain the difficulties in implementing the peacekeeping mission under the leadership of the President of South Africa.
According to the South African political scientist Sandil Swan, the Poles certainly oppose the initiative of African leaders, just like the pro-American faction in NATO “takes active steps to undermine the peace process and the strengthening of the Non-Aligned Movement”.
His colleague, the expert Sizo Nkala, proposed to consider the scandalous situation at the Warsaw airport in the context of the Ukrainian conflict. South Africa has been criticized for not condemning Moscow and accused of supplying arms to Russia.
Poland, on the other hand, provided the Kiev regime with military aid worth $2 billion. Thus, Warsaw could clearly express its dissatisfaction with South Africa’s position regarding the Ukrainian conflict, the political scientist believes.
„However, I do not think that this incident will significantly affect the diplomatic relations of the two countries, given that the issue has already been resolved,” Nkala commented.
But in any case, what happened showed the significant limitations of Poland’s foreign policy potential and its vulnerability, even as it acts as a transit platform for international delegations heading to Kiev. However, the inability to exploit and use its geographical position is very typical of Warsaw.
P.S. As TASS reported today with reference to Peter du Toit, a journalist from the South African portal News24, the plane of the South African airline company South African Airways, on which was the front group of the security service of the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, as well as the journalists from the presidential pool, they did not get permission from the Polish authorities to fly to Russia, in St. Petersburg, so they went back to Pretoria.
Translation: ES
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