Biden welcomes South Africa's Ramaphosa to White House

The leaders of South Africa and the United States called Friday for close cooperation on health, security and climate, as President Joe Biden puts a new focus on African powers after their reluctance to take on Russia.

President Cyril Ramaphosa was set to meet President Joe Biden weeks after Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid his own trip to South Africa and promised that the United States will do more to listen to Africa.

Starting his visit over breakfast with Vice President Kamala Harris, Ramaphosa voiced gratitude to the United States for its "considerable support" on the Covid pandemic as the Biden administration donates 1.1 billion vaccine doses around the world.

"The visit really is about strengthening the relationship between South Africa and the United States," Ramaphosa said, adding that Washington had a "key role" to play on security issues across Africa.

Harris hailed the leadership of Ramaphosa -- who is under growing pressure at home over a scandal -- and said she would discuss working together on fighting climate change, a key priority for the Biden administration.

"I cannot emphasize enough how important the relationship between our countries is to the people of the United States both in terms of our security and our prosperity," she said.

Like other developing nations, South Africa -- whose eastern Mpumalanga province has one of the world's largest concentrations of coal -- argues that industrialized nations should bear the brunt of efforts to cut emissions due to their historic responsibility for climate change.

Wealthy nations at last year's Glasgow climate conference promised $8.5 billion of financing to South Africa to transition away from coal.

'Histories' behind Russia stance

Successive US administrations have focused much of their energy in Africa on countering the growing influence of China, which has become the continent's dominant trading partner.

But Russia's invasion of Ukraine has triggered a new front in the battle for influence in Africa, where many nations have been reluctant to embrace the West in its campaign to punish and pressure Moscow.

South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor denied being neutral but said "there are reasons for the perspectives that exist and one should never, I think, try to pretend that there aren't histories."

She pointed to the former Soviet Union's championing of anti-apartheid forces compared with periods of Western cooperation with South Africa's former white supremacist regime.

"I think we've been fairly clear, in our view, that war doesn't assist anyone and that we believe the inhumane actions we have seen against the people of Ukraine can't be defended by anybody," she said this week at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.

"But what we have said is that a lot of the public statements that are made by leading politicians are not assisting in ameliorating the situation, because the first prize must be to achieve peace."

The United States has sought to highlight the invasion's role in soaring food prices, as Ukraine was one of Africa's largest suppliers of grain.

Russia has sought to blame food scarcities on Western sanctions, an argument dismissed by the United States, which says it is not restricting agricultural or humanitarian shipments.

South Africa's top diplomat broke with the usual polite bipartisanship of foreign dignitaries visiting Washington, not mincing words on Biden's Republican predecessor Donald Trump, who notoriously referred to nations in the developing world with an epithet.

"We relate very well, I think probably better, with the Democrats than the Republicans," she said. "You will recall how President Trump described Africa and no one has apologized for that as yet."

Trump was the first US president in decades not to visit sub-Saharan Africa. Biden has not yet visited but has pledged a renewed interest, including with a summit of African leaders planned in Washington this December