AFRICA’S WILLINGNESS to break with the West has been flaunted in recent years. After Russia invaded Ukraine 17 African countries abstained from a UN vote condemning the invasion. Last year, as the West refused negotiations with Russia, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa and three other African presidents led a peace mission to Russia and Ukraine. This year South Africa’s case against Israel’s actions in Gaza in the International Court of Justice was a public act of defiance (America decried it as “meritless” and “counter-productive”). Mr Ramaphosa has also attended meetings with the presidents of China, Iran and Russia over the past eight months.
