Members of the security of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa who were to accompany him during his mediation mission in Ukraine Friday, June 16, 2023 were detained in Poland, according to officials of both countries, causing a diplomatic incident.
Mr. Ramaphosa’s head of security, General Wally Rhoode, accused the Polish authorities of being “racist” and “endangering” the life of his president, after his men were blocked when they arrived at Chopin airport in Warsaw.
The Polish government reacted on Friday by deeming these statements “inept”, explaining that some people on board the plane from South Africa did not have a weapons permit and were therefore not allowed to disembark.
“They were not allowed to leave the plane with their weapons. They considered that they would remain on board,” said Stanislaw Zaryn, a Polish special services official.
The charter flight had left Pretoria early Thursday, with some 120 people on board, including members of the southern security forces.and journalists who were to follow President Ramaphosa on his trip to Kiev as part of a peace mediation mission led by African leaders.
Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in the Polish capital on Thursday aboard the South African presidential plane Inkwazi, then went by train to Kiev, where he arrived on Friday, according to the presidency.
The incident at the airport provoked the anger of General Rhoode who expressed himself in an improvised press conference aboard the charter plane.
“They are delaying us, putting the president’s life in danger,” the general said in a video posted on Twitter.
“They say we don’t have a permit, we have permits,” he said while admitting that some members of his team only had copies of the necessary papers. See how racist they are,” he said.
A little later, Ramphosa’s spokesman, Vincent Magwenya, declared the incident “regrettable” while adding that he had not compromised the president’s security.
“The rest of the mission is going well and as planned,” said Mr Magwenya, adding: “the president arrived in Kiev safely”.
South African officials have begun discussions with their Polish counterparts to break the deadlock and allow the security team and journalists, also detained, to continue their journey.
On Friday afternoon, some journalists were allowed to disembark after more than 24 hours on the tarmac.
After Kiev, the African mediation must go to the north-west of Russia to meet Vladimir Putin on Saturday in Saint Petersburg.
