It is informative how the department of international relations & co-operation immediately condemns Israel’s recognition of Somaliland on the grounds of “international law”, which is invoked by the usual suspects when it suits but ignored when it doesn’t. According to the ANC, successful and peaceful Somaliland is still part of war-torn Somalia, and its 1991 independence is therefore illegitimate. Yet it campaigns for the independence of Western Sahara against Morocco’s UN mandate, on the grounds of self-determination.
Hypocritical inconsistency? Yes, but what’s new in an organisation whose guiding light is “human rights”, yet counts among its besties Iran, which violently suppresses protest and carries out public executions, and the autocratic colonialist Russia. Its obsession with Israel trumps the wishes of Somaliland, which sees enormous benefits in relations with advanced Israel, and trumps the wider benefit to Africa and Southern Africa of an alliance that would curtail the rise and spread of al-Shabaab, the jihadist and terrorist organisation affiliated to al-Qaeda.
This year may well see the end of Iran’s malignant government, which will very likely lead to relations between it and Israel and further expose the ANC’s misconceived foreign policy when it is joined with a flood of forward-looking African and Arab countries, free of the influence of Iran’s previous terrorist proxies. JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an email with your comments toletters@businessday.co.za. Letters of more than 200 words may be edited for length.
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