S. Africa Denies Responsibility For Warsaw Airport Stand-Off

During a press briefing on yesterday's regular Cabinet meeting, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni denied reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa's security team breached security protocols while en route to Ukraine, which led to their chartered plane being grounded at an airport in the Polish capital.

• Ntshavheni said that South Africa has not yet engaged with Poland to clarify the situation, but would use diplomatic channels to establish what happened. She insisted that "everything was done according to the normal protocols that are done."
• The detainment of the plane carrying dozens of security officials and reporters triggered a diplomatic stand-off between South Africa and Poland. Warsaw claimed that the plane was carrying undeclared weapons and persons.
• The outsized, heavily armed security team was supposed to accompany President Cyril Ramaphosa on his recent trip to Kyiv and Moscow. Ramaphosa was part of a delegation of African leaders to both parties to the ongoing war.
• Meanwhile, a parliamentary report revealed that the legislatures of South Africa and UAE expressed readiness to host their counterparts from Russia and Ukraine in a bid to facilitate peace negotiations.
• National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said that the parliaments of Ukraine and Russia welcomed the work of a special Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) task force, which engaged with senior lawmakers from both countries.