Ramaphosa visits France for WWI commemoration

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is in France for a three-day visit, which includes a commemoration on Sunday for South African soldiers killed in World War I.

The event marks the 110th anniversary of the Battle of Delville Wood in Longueval, northern France, where several hundred South Africans were killed.

Ramaphosa met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Friday. A French diplomatic source said the two found “broad convergence of views” on crises in the Middle East and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

They shared the same assessment of the “crisis in the Gulf and the economic consequences of the situation in the Strait of Hormuz”, where shipping has been disrupted by the US-Iran war, the source said.

The two presidents agreed on the need to “encourage regional efforts for peace and security” around war-torn eastern DRC, where “South Africa plays a stabilising role”, the source added.

They also agreed to establish an annual bilateral dialogue at the foreign ministers’ level.

South Africa announced in March that Ramaphosa was no longer invited to the G7 summit held in June in Evian, southern France. France said it had been under no pressure from US President Donald Trump and had simply limited the number of invited countries to improve the effectiveness of discussions.

Macron hosted a dinner in Ramaphosa’s honour on Friday evening at the Elysee Palace, attended by families of anti-apartheid struggle heroes.

SOURCE: AFP