South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has recently returned from a solidarity visit to that 'outpost of tyranny' Belarus. Of course this is not surprising: the South African government has on numerous occasions displayed a disturbing lust for oppressive regimes. But the Foreign Minister's warm embrace of Belarus, even by South African standards, seems extreme.
Belarus has been rated as one of the most 'not free' places on the planet by human rights NGO Freedom House. Opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists are routinely arrested and tortured. Belarus' president Alyaksandr Lukashenka maintains order with the use of KGB style secret police. Minority groups, such as ethnic Poles, have been singled out by Lukashenka's regime for particularly harsh abuse.
In addition to general human rights abuses, Belarus is arguably one of the most anti-Semitic states outside the Muslim world. President Lukashenko is thought to be a neo-Nazi sympathizer. In a 1995 interview on Russian NTV he openly praised Hitler.
| 'The history of Germany is a copy of the history of Belarus. Germany was raised from the ruins thanks to firm authority, and not everything connected with that well known figure, Adolf Hitler, was bad. German order evolved over the centuries and under Hitler it attained its peak.' |
Lukashenko's regime has also been accused by leaders of the Belarus Jewish community of being responsible for the destruction of Jewish holy sites. A football stadium was built on the site of the historic Jewish cemetery in the town of Grodno and synagogues have been demolished to build housing complexes and parking lots. Moreover, outspoken anti-Semites like Eduard Skobelev have been awarded national honours by the President. These actions have earned Belarus the admiration of many neo-Nazi groups. Lukashenko has been described on neo-Nazi websites as being "the only bulwark against the empire of the New World Order" (aka Jews).
Given this background, it is alarming that Foreign Minister Dlamini Zuma on her visit described South Africa and Belarus as being 'sister people' and called for a strengthening of 'our fraternal ties'. Areas of increased cooperation will include the Middle East conflict, nuclear non-proliferation and United Nations reforms. Thus it's not surprising that at the meeting with Dlamini Zuma, Lukashenko declared that South Africa had a central place in Belarus' foreign policy agenda to building up a 'new foreign political vector'.
South Africa is clearly now part of the family of totalitarian nations. The only question that remains is whether they will try to keep their less savory relatives on the straight and narrow or will go along with their Hitler like plans.
Well, lets see.
They've done Zimbabwe, Sudan, Libya, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Mynamar, Red China, North Korea, Hamas/Hezbullah and now Belarus.
Thye've been very thourough.
Is there anywhere totalitarian regime they haven't yet pointedly embraced?
Posted by: Gary | July 13, 2007 at 16:47