South Africa: joint military exercises with Russia and China kick off

South Africa is hosting the “Mosi II” military exercises from today, a joint naval exercise with Russia and China that will be held off its coast. The exercises, the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) announced in a statement, will take place for ten days from February 17 to February 27 off the coast of the cities of Durban and Richards Bay with the aim of sharing operational skills and knowledge.

“This year’s exercise will be attended by more than 350 Sandf personnel from various service branches and divisions,” the statement reads. This is the second time that the country has hosted such a military exercise: the first was held in November 2019 in Cape Town. In South Africa, the announcement of the army was criticized by the opposition, who accused the ruling party ANC of making the country play the role of “useful idiot” in the ongoing conflict, abandoning the formal position of neutrality in an “irresponsible” way hitherto maintained by Pretoria on the international level.

The concern concerns in particular the test by Moscow of its Zircon hypersonic missile, a fear confirmed in recent days by the Russian consulate in Cape Town, which announced the docking in the city of the Russian battleship Admiral Gorshkov – armed with this model of missiles – in view of the exercises. Moreover, these are held while – on February 24 – the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the conflict falls. South Africa assumed the presidency of the BRICS group of nations – which brings together Brazil, Russia, India and China – last month.

Source: NOVA News