As South Africa this weekend joined the global condemnation of the United States military invasion of the oil-richVenezuelaand the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, analysts warned about the adverse geopolitical effect of the move. They predicted that the US offensive would render the world less secure, with more ructions imminent in already-strained global economic relations. Against the background of years of sour relations with its Latin-American neighbour, the US has for months carried out airstrikes across Venezuela.
On Friday explosions rocked the capital Caracas, culminating in PresidentDonald Trumppublicly announcing the capture of Maduro and Flores. The US navy has since late last year carried out airstrikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, seizing Venezuelan oil tankers. More than 100 people have been killed in attacks which human rights groups say could be war crimes.
Among global critics of the US’s seizure of Maduro, South Africa’s department of international relations and cooperation said the government had noted the move “with grave concern”. South Africa viewed Trump’s actions as “a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations (UN), which mandates that all member states refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state”, department spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said in a statement. He said the UN Charter “does not authorise external military intervention in matters that are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of a sovereign nation”.
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“History has repeatedly demonstrated that military invasions against sovereign states yield only instability and deepening crisis. Unlawful, unilateral force of this nature undermines the stability of the international order and the principle of equality among nations,” Phiri said. South Africa called on the United Nations Security Council, “the body mandated to maintain international peace and security, to urgently convene to address this situation”, he added.
While there are internal political challenges in Venezuela, fuelled by disputed elections, it is unprecedented “that a country will take action to remove a sitting president”, said Zwelinzima Ndevu, a professor at the University of Stellenbosch’s public leadership faculty. “There is no justification or jurisdiction for a country to intervene in matters of their neighbouring states. This is clearly a violation of international laws, something which will lead to difficult relations going forward,” Ndevu said.
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