7th January 2005

Vol 46 N0 1

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SOUTHERN AFRICA

Pan-Africanism meets market economics

Incessant diplomatic shuffling and economic muscle will make South Africa the continent's capital this year

South Africa's omnipresence in the continent's diplomatic and economic initiatives in 2005 will be paralleled by the African National Congress's dominance of national politics. This year President Thabo Mbeki will be involved in critical negotiations in conflicts in Côte d'Ivoire, Sudan, Burundi, Congo-Kinshasa and Rwanda, and Comoros. That is apart from his mediating role in Zimbabwe and Swaziland. Mbeki will face growing criticism that his staggering diplomatic air miles (the substantive negotiations are rarely delegated to Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma or officials) and his New Partnership for Africa's Development are little more than political cover for South Africa's commercial ambitions. That view was reinforced during Mbeki's 31 December visit to Sudan when he omitted to make any reference to Khartoum's mass murder in Darfur (AC Vol 45 No 24) and left clutching a batch of oil concessions. Similar realpolitik would seem to govern warming relations with President Teodoro Obiang's oil-rich dictatorship in Equatorial Guinea. It is also difficult to square with South Africa's sponsorship of NePAD's peer review process, under which African states judge each other's standard of governance....

(This article contains approximately 1840 words)

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Keywords:

 South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, Côte d'Ivoire, Sudan, Burundi, Congo-Kinshasa, Rwanda, Comoros, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Teodoro Obiang, Equatorial Guinea, Mugabe's memoirs, Robert Mugabe, Patrick Chinamasa, July Moyo, Philip Chiyangwa, Joseph Chinotimba, Jonathan Moyo, Joyce 'Teurai Ropa' Mujuru, Zambia, Levy Mwanawasa, Frederick Chiluba, Faustin Kabwe, Aaron Chungu, Xavier Chungu, Canada, Atan Shansonga, Switzerland, Angola, José Eduardo dos Santos, Jonas Savimbi', Isaías Samakuva, Abel Chivukuvuku, Angola's new investors, José Pedro de Morais, China, India, Israel, Russia, , Brazil, Portugal, France, Pierre Falcone, Arkady Gaidamak,, Lev Leviev, Mozambique, Armando Guebuza, Joaquim Chissano, Presidential power struggles, Malawians, Bingu wa Mutharika, Bakili Muluzi, Sam Nujoma, Namibia, Hifikepunye Pohamba, Hidipo Hamutenya, Hage Geingob, Botswana, Seretse Khama Ian Khama, Festus Mogae, United States, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, gradualismo, União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola, Resistência Nacional de Moçambique, Frente de Libertação de Moçambique