Mbeki eyes role as 'Africa's spokesman'

CAPE TOWN (South Africa): South Africa is steadily courting alliances with fellow regional powerhouses in a bid to position itself as the continent's diplomatic pointman beyond its upcoming stint on the UN Security Council.

Fresh from hosting Russia's Vladmir Putin in Cape Town, South African President Thabo Mbeki heads to Brazil this week for a three-way summit with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Manmohan Singh.

According to analysts, Mbeki is keen to ensure widespread backing for its ambitions to become a de facto spokesman not only for the poorest continent but the wider developing world.

South Africa begins a two-year stint as a rotating member of the Security Council in January but it has made little secret of its desire for a permanent seat under long-awaited reforms of the United Nations' power structure.

"He's definitely courting these guys to get their support" for a permanent seat, said Janis van der Westhuizen, a lecturer in international relations at South Africa's Stellenbosch University.

"It's part of an overall (project) to position South Africa as the leading spokesperson for the south. It's part of an organised attempt to punch above its weight."

Putin assured Mbeki at their talks in Cape Town that he would "work closely" with South Africa on the Security Council.

The declared aim of the three-way summit on Wednesday in Brazil, another country which wants a permanent Council seat, is to fine tune the bloc's "common vision" on major international issues.

Kurt Schillenger, an analyst at the South African Institute of International Affairs, said that Mbeki was keen to pursue his vision as a champion of the developing world.

"The pursuit of a seat on the Security Council... is part of that broader effort to redefine global priorities and the distribution of global resources," said Schillenger.

"We have seen this president try very hard to articulate different perspectives on the war on terror... to point out that he disagrees with priority the West places on global security.

"For Mbeki the more pressing concern is on issues of poverty and development."

Mbeki's independence of thought from the West has been amply demonstrated in recent months by the identity of visitors.

Quite apart from Putin and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Pretoria has also played host to ministers from North Korea, Iran and Ukraine. Mbeki's unwillingness to publicly criticise Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has also put him at odds with Washington and Brussels.

An editorial in the Cape Times newspaper bemoaned that Mbeki appeared willing to let Russia off the hook over its rights records in cosying up to Putin -- drawing a contrast to the era of former president Nelson Mandela.

"The growing business cooperation between the two countries must be applauded," it said. "But are we being un-Putinlike and sentimental to look back a little nostagically to the Mandela era when championing human rights, and democracy in the world was a central pillar of our foreign policy?"

Van der Westhuizen said that Mbeki was unwilling to allow qualms over human rights to undermine relations with world powers.

"Under Mandela there was a big interest in human rights but especially under Mbeki's presidency the big stand on human rights has taken a back seat. It's power politics and how to move on the chess board," he said.

According to Schillenger, Mbeki's willingness to deal with the likes of Tehran and Pyongyang -- both parts of what US President George W. Bush dubbed an axis of evil -- was down to more than just pragmatism.

"I think he feels a strong affinity, born out of his struggle experience, with countries that he might regard as being bulled by the West," he said.