Cape Town – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa received a courtesy visit in Pretoria from the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday.
Blinken arrived in South Africa for an official visit on Sunday during a three-nation African trip which followed hot on the heels of an extensive tour of the continent by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
He visited the Hector Pieterson Museum in Orlando West, Soweto in honour of the Soweto Uprising of 1976.
On Monday, the US Secretary of State held discussions with International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor and made a policy announcement on the US government’s new Africa strategy.
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He said that the United States was seeking a “true partnership” with Africa and not trying to “outdo” other world powers in vying for influence on the continent.
Blinken said the United States did not see the region as the “latest playing field in a competition between great powers”.
“That is fundamentally not how we see it. It’s not how we will advance our engagement here,” Blinken told a press briefing in Pretoria, alongside Pandor.
“Our commitment to a stronger partnership with Africa is not about trying to outdo anyone else.”
His trip to South Africa was expected to end on Tuesday but before he left the country for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he met with Ramaphosa.
His Excellency President @CyrilRamaphosa receives a courtesy call from the United States Secretary of State, Mr. Antony J. Blinken, this morning in Tshwane. #BetterAfricaBetterWorld ? pic.twitter.com/UKh3SxDAlD
— Presidency | South Africa ?? (@PresidencyZA) August 9, 2022
“His Excellency President @CyrilRamaphosa receives a courtesy call from the United States Secretary of State, Mr. Antony J. Blinken, this morning in Tshwane,” the Presidency tweeted on Tuesday.
Blinken’s tour will then wind up in Rwanda, which has seen a flare-up in tensions with DRC after it accused Rwanda of backing M23 rebels, a charge Kigali denies.
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Picture: Twitter/@PresidencyZA
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
Additional reporting by AFP
