SA condemns outcome of global peace summit

A SA delegation attended Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s global peace summit in Switzerland, but condemned it, partly because of the presence of Israel. Sydney Mufamadi, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s national security adviser, who attended the meeting in Burgenstock, rejected the summit communiqué that was adopted by most of the 101 nations and international organisations that participated. The Daily Maverick reports that Saudi Arabia, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil and the UAE were also among participants that declined to sign the communiqué, according to Reuters. However, Turkey – which has sought a role as intermediary between Russia and Ukraine – did, along with most of the nations which participated. China and some other nations stayed away altogether, and many other nations sent lower-level delegations because Russia was not there. Ukraine’s idea was to build international support for its peace plan – which calls for the total withdrawal of Russia from all Ukrainian territory – and then invite Moscow to a second global summit. Mufamadi said that given the importance that the summit had placed on the UN Charter, international law and human rights, it was surprising that Israel was present and signed the communiqué ‘just a few days after a credible high panel committee appointed by the UN found that it has, amongst the commission of other atrocity crimes, committed the crime of extermination’. He added that this ‘failure to uniformly and fairly implement international law in all conflict situations globally weakens the normative framework of international accountability and makes the world less safe for all’.

Full Daily Maverick report