South Africa plans Military Exercises on the Anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine; not sitting well with some

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer 

#Africa, February 2, 2023 – South Africa has announced it is planning a joint naval exercise with Russia and China during the anniversary of the Ukrainian invasion but says there is no sinister intent.

According to the South African National Defense Force, more than 350 South African soldiers will join Chinese and Russian soldiers in Exercise MOSI II.

In a statement posted to its Twitter, the South African National Defense Force has rejected any insinuation that the move is a political one, emphasizing that it was a continuation of exercises planned years prior.

“Ex MOSI II is a scheduled nine-day military marrying up exercise, one of several that the SANDF conducts with militaries around the world on a regular basis, to ensure that it can learn from and benchmark its own operating capability. The first edition of this particular exercise was held in 2019 and involved Brazil and India, as well as Russia and China. The follow-up exercise, MOSI II, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

It further maintained that it was on neutral terms with both the US and Russia.

“South Africa is continually home to military cooperation events, not all of which are formal exercises. The USAF is currently using Cape Town as a landing base — Last year, South Africa participated in Exercise SHARED ACCORD, the US military’s annual African military exercise.”

They maintained that over the last year, they had participated in events with the French, Indians and Brazilians.

“None of this is sinister, nor suggests any agenda over and above the ongoing improvement of the SANDF’s capabilities in executing its constitutional mandate of safeguarding the territorial integrity of this country.”

Exercise MOSI II will last for nine days from February 17th to 27 and will be held in the Indian Ocean.