US envoy apologises after alleging South Africa supplied arms to Russia

South Africa's foreign ministry released a statement on Friday noting that US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety had 'apologised' unreservedly and admitted to having crossed a line after he said a Russian ship had picked up weapons from the country last year.

Brigety took to Twitter to state he had spoken with the foreign minister Naledi Pandor and corrected misimpressions.

"I was grateful for the opportunity to speak with Foreign Minister Pandor this evening and correct any misimpressions left by my public remarks. In our conversation, I reaffirmed the strong partnership between our two countries & the important agenda our Presidents have given us," he tweeted.

South Africa’s head of public diplomacy, Clayson Monyela also confirmed the apology but asked Brigety to make a much docile public apology.

"He [Brigety] committed to making the apology public as he has done. I guess his choice of language is the issue. @USAmbRSA you may want to clarify. We are happy with the apology you offered in the meeting but the comments here suggest that more was expected from you. I'll leave that to you."

What were the concrete allegations made by the US?

On Thursday, Brigety accused the rainbow nation of supplying weapons to Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine despite the country’s neutral stance. Brigety claimed that Pretoria had sent weapons and ammunition aboard the Russian cargo ship Lady R docked at a Cape Town naval base in December last year.

“We are confident that weapons were loaded onto that vessel and I would bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion,” said Brigety.

“The arming of Russia by South Africa...is fundamentally unacceptable.”

He also spoke about how senior US officials have “profound concerns” about South Africa not respecting its professed stance of non-alignment and neutrality over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, adding that this “does not suggest to us the actions of a non-aligned country,” as quoted by Reuters.

As soon asBrigety made the statement, he invited criticism from the South African government.President Cyril Ramaphosa released a strongly worded statement and calledthe allegations “disappointing”.

“The Ambassador’s remarks undermine the spirit of cooperation and partnership that characterised the recent engagements between US government officials and a South African official delegation,” said Ramaphosa’s spokesman Vincent Magwenya, in a statement.

(With inputs from agencies)

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