President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday pleaded with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine as African countries were being negatively affected by the war.
Ramaphosa was in St Peterburg as part of a delegation of seven African countries that embarked on a peace mission in Ukraine.
The peace tour resume with a similar meeting with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky in Kyiv. Both parties pointed fingers at each other and refused to accept the blame for the more than year-long war.
Ramaphosa had been anticipated to meet with Putin behind closed doors last night to discuss the dilemma South Africa faces in planning the Brics summit - taking place in August. Ramaphosa had intended giving Putin options that would see him skip the trip to SA for the summit. But the meeting did not take place. Insiders say the two would now meet before the Russia-Africa summit scheduled to take place in St Petersburg next month.
Putin said while he welcomed the African delegation's efforts to bring about peace, the Ukrainian government was to blame for the events that led to the confrontation.
On Friday, Zelensky said Moscow was the aggressor and any peace talks must start with Russia withdrawing from Ukrainian territory.
As he did with Zelensky, Ramaphosa told Putin that Africa believes the war should be settled through negotiations and diplomatic dialogue.
"The war cannot go on forever. All wars have to be settled and come to an end at some stage," he said.
He told Putin that the war was having a negative impact on the African continent and globally.
Africa also wants to see a de-escalation of the conflict.
"We recognise the sovereignty of other nations in terms of the UN Charter and, yes, in terms of that charter, we believe that should work in terms of internationally recognised principles. It is for that reason that we'd like to submit that we recognise the sovereignty of countries in terms of that charter."
A guarantee of safety for all countries, opening up of the movement of grains across the Black Sea and the provision of humanitarian support to victims of war were again put on the table.
He also said Africa would like to see the release of prisoners of war on both sides.
"There should also be post-war construction and lastly, we'd like to see further engagements with regards to processes that will lead to the end of this war."
Ramaphosa said Zelensky agreed that the African continent can play a role, and "we'd like to urge that beyond this engagement today, there should be further engagements because ending wars does tend to take a number of meetings and engagements".
Putin told the leaders that he appreciated the efforts made by Africa to try and resolve the conflict.
"We responded positively to your suggestions on holding negotiations on the Ukrainian dossier," he said.
"I know that you have ideas and proposals in this regard with the president of the South Africa republic. We talked about this a lot of times and I am grateful to him for raising this topic and once again I would like to underscore that we are open to constructive dialogue with everyone who wants to see peace based on the principle of justice and consideration for the legitimate interests of the party."
Ramaphosa's trip was overshadowed by the controversy around a chartered SAA flight carrying his protectors that was grounded in Poland.
The government-chartered plane that was grounded at a Warsaw airport this week was flagged for carrying an extra dozen boxes of powerful weapons that had not been declared to Polish authorities.
The Sunday Times understands that Poland sent a diplomatic message to the South African government, warning about the additional boxes of undeclared and unauthorised arms.
Highly placed South African government insiders said the arms included long-range sniper rifles and weapons normally used in serious conflict.
This is one of the main reasons the plane, which was ferrying more than 120 passengers, including President Cyril Ramaphosa's security detail and accompanying journalists, was grounded.
Ramaphosa is on a peacekeeping mission, along with other African heads of state, as they try to stop the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The African leaders met Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Friday and Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg yesterday.
There were suggestions that there were at least 12 huge cases containing the additional arms that were undeclared but insiders said they could only confirm there was “a lot”.
Questions were also raised about why journalists were travelling on a plane loaded with such heavy weapons. Insiders say this has never happened before.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said he could not comment and referred the Sunday Times to the police. Police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe would say only that “the SAPS has noted with concern the developments surrounding the trip by the security detail assigned to the president on his trip to Russia”.
“Police at this stage are not at liberty to confirm or comment on any aspect of the trip as it remains a security matter which the SAPS does not publicly comment on.”
The Polish foreign ministry on Friday said the SAA plane was grounded because it was transporting dangerous or unsafe goods that had not been declared, as well as extra people who were not on the original passenger list.
“On board the plane there were dangerous materials, the import of which was not authorised by South African representatives,” the ministry said.
“In addition, there were people on the plane who had not been previously notified to the Polish side,” the statement read.
The incident will likely cause yet more diplomatic headaches for South Africa as the Polish authorities seek the true reason for transporting the weapons.
The Sunday Times has seen a document that says 126 passengers, - all security personnel - were on the flight. However, only a handful of firearms were cleared for the trip. It's also understood that both the Polish and Russian governments were told that only "a few officers" would be participating in the mission.
The plane was cleared to take off from Warsaw after negotiations on Friday but this go-ahead was later reversed and those on board were told to leave the aircraft and to check into hotels in the city.
The Polish government was adamant that the weapons would not be allowed to enter Poland.
The Sunday Times understands that Estonia refused overflight clearance for the chartered aircraft, which was why it could not leave Poland. A document that the Sunday Times has seen indicated that Russia was ready to welcome the aircraft.
"At the same time there are restrictions on the use of airspace on the declared route over Russia. In this regard, it is proposed that a different route be considered," said the document.
Ramaphosa had to hold his meetings in Ukraine without the full complement of his security detail due to the confusion at Warsaw Chopin Airport. About 100 officers were stranded in Poland.
As the falling out between Poland and South Africa played out in full view of the world it became clear that Warsaw was not happy with the non-aligned stance South Africa says it has taken on the war.
Presidential Protection Unit head Maj-Gen Wally Rhoode told journalists in the early hours of Thursday that the Polish government had "sabotaged Ramaphosa's peace mission".
Rhoode went on: "Now, all of a sudden we must have permits and are putting the life of our president in jeopardy because we could have been in Kyiv this afternoon already.
"This is what they are doing and I want you to see that when we started to open the packages, they wanted to rush to confiscate our firearms and that is why we had to put it back."
Rhoode was referring to the 12 boxes of weapons.
Shortly after the plane landed in Poland the boxes were offloaded. It's understood that the Polish government wanted to inspect what was inside. There was an impasse after the Polish government threatened to confiscate the weapons. After the media was made aware of the row, the boxes were returned into the aircraft.
After intense negotiations between the two governments, the crew was eventually allowed to disembark, on condition that they leave the luggage and weapons on the plane. The officers on board were also told to leave their personal weapons.
Zelensky told Ramaphosa and his delegation that peace talks with Russia would be possible only after Moscow withdraws its forces from occupied Ukrainian territory.
He said he did not understand what could be gained from the African leaders meeting Putin.
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