The African peace initiative for the Russia-Ukraine war has hit an early snag, as Polish authorities denied permission for South African presidential security team, and their equipment to disembark in Warsaw.
There are also reports that a plane chartered to transport the security officials from Warsaw to a staging point in the south of Poland never arrived.
The dispute keeping the security team at the airport – and the personnel on the plane – involves import permits for weapons. According to the head of the Presidential Protection Unit, Genera; Wally Rhoode: ‘We have permits. For some of them, they said we must have originals, which we have. When we gave them the copies from the high commission, they don’t want the copies, they want the originals.’
Rhoode accused the Poles of racism and attempting to sabotage the government’s efforts. He added that the Poles often refused to speak English.
It is unclear whether South African diplomatic staff were able to assist in communicating in the country’s native language.
Polish authorities said in a statement that the problems arose from failings on the South African side: ‘Dangerous goods were on board the plane, which South African representatives did not have permission to bring in. In addition, there were persons on board the aircraft of whose presence the Polish side had not been notified beforehand.’
President Ramaphosa, meanwhile, paid a courtesy call on Polish President Andrzej Duda, before departing for Ukraine accompanied by a small security detachment.