South Africa’s changing role in the play for power

With South Africa firmly ensconced within the international relations arena made up of BRICS, non-aligned countries and countries that assisted the ANC during the struggle to end apartheid, Pretoria has repeatedly found itself at odds with major Western powers with its foreign policy. But it is especially relations with France that are experiencing strain as SA makes its latest move in the world of African power diplomacy.  At stake is the job of Commissioner of the African Union.

Recently, the Zuma administration's foreign policy has gotten under the skin of major Western countries, especially the UN Security Council’s three permanent members: France, Britain and the US. Issues that seriously irked these three countries include Pretoria’s stance on Myanmar (Burma), its recent abstention on a Security Council vote on Syria, and its position on the West’s Nato-led military campaign in Libya which overthrew the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

SA’s close relations with China, and the latter’s role in our admission to the BRICS club (comprising China, Brazil, Russia, India, China, SA) did not have the Western powers jumping with joy either. Russian and Brazilian energy and mineral resource interests and policies are already causing friction with the European Union (amongst others), SA is now also viewed as a player in that realm.

And the three permanent members of the UN Security Council are not overly happy either that they have been replaced by China and India as major trading partners of South Africa and much of the rest of Africa.

But it is especially the relations between South Africa and France that have taken strain on a number of issues and are now once again heading for the diplomatic whirlpool. This comes at a time when France under President Nicolas Sarkozy has been trying to restore its somewhat tarnished image in Africa, has sought to increase its military, economic and diplomatic influence in Africa, and is seeking a bigger slice of Africa’s resources pie for itself.

France has been making its moves on a larger African stage than only within the African francophone bloc with its traditional influence as former colonial master.

Most recently it was especially France’s leading role in securing a UN vote for a no-fly zone over Libya - which South Africa initially supported but was then exploited for an all-out air bombardment of Libya by Nato warplanes to effect regime change.

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma was repeatedly shunned by France and the other Nato allies in his efforts to obtain a ceasefire and secure a negotiated settlement in Libya under the auspices of the AU.

While France and the other Nato allies appeared to be openly contemptuous of Zuma’s AU plan, the way they acted in Libya did not sit well with Pretoria.

France in turn was angered by South Africa’s support for former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo who refused to hand over power to his rival, current president Alassane Ouattara, after an election.

Gbagbo was eventually forced to surrender after military intervention ... in which France played a big role. Gbagbo is now on trial in the International Criminal Court in The Hague. He has blamed the French military for his arrest on charges of crimes against humanity.

Now another theatre of contention has opened up between South Africa and France. This time it is about South Africa’s nomination of its Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for the post of chairperson of the Commission of the AU. France is backing the current incumbent, Jean Ping from Gabon, for a second term.

France is said to have been infuriated by South Africa’s nomination of Dlamini-Zuma. Gabon is a former French colony and Ping a well-known operator in Paris. He previously worked as a special adviser to the Gabonese embassy in Paris, was Gabon’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Cooperation, La Francophonie, and Regional Integration for almost a decade and served as President of the UN General Assembly among other posts.

Ping’s initial candidature in 2008 for the AU position was backed by France, the francophone bloc in Africa as well as the Economic Community of Central African States. He enjoys similar backing for a second term with France leading the pack as he is seen as a valuable conduit for expanding French influence in Africa and opening up new African markets for France as well as new supplies of resources.

Diplomatic sources say France’s resentment over the SA nomination was further inflamed when South African officials secured the endorsement of the EU foreign policy chief, Lady Catherine Ashton for Dlamini-Zuma’s nomination. Lady Ashton, who served in Gordon Brown’s Labour cabinet in Britain, holds arguably the second most powerful position in the EU Commission.

Apparently she agreed during a meeting with SA officials in Perth on the sidelines of the Commonwealth meeting in October to help SA convince AU heads of state, especially in French-speaking West Africa, to vote for Dlamini-Zuma. In return for Ping’s withdrawal from the race, the EU is to ensure Ping is rewarded with a suitably senior position at the United Nations, it is said.

And although they were allies in the military action in Libya, this now puts France and Britain in opposite camps. Relations between the two further soured when President Sarkozy last week refused to shake hands with British Prime Minister David Cameron after the latter blocked a new EU treaty deal.

Meanwhile one of SA’s aims in securing the chairmanship of the AU Commission was triggered by the actions of France and its allies in Libya when they ignored the proposal for an AU-managed negotiated settlement in Libya.

While the AU Commission’s chairmanship traditionally has gone to one of Africa’s less powerful countries, SA wants to break with that tradition. Pretoria believes the post should be held by one of the more powerful African countries in order to give more clout to AU proposals and demands in the global arena of power politics.

These developments have opened the race for AU Commission chairperson to an international contest among Western powers who back different African blocs in turn supporting one or the other of the two candidates. Nigeria is also said to be one of SA’s biggest opponents in the race.

It can only get a lot messier and the only certainty at this stage is that France and South Africa will not emerge as sweethearts from this diplomatic battle. And, as was the case in Libya, cynics will be forgiven for thinking this has everything to do with the economic recolonisation of Africa.

Stef Terblanche