Cold War and Colonial Solidarities Remain

South Africa, one of the giants of Africa and currently a two-year member of the Security Council of the UN, seems to be maintaining Cold War ties and solidarity with African leaders of questionable reputation, to the annoyance of some commentators. South Africa's current attitude is blamed on its current president, Jacob Zuma, with the suggestion that Nelson Mandela was far more concerned about promoting human rights than maintaining questionable alliances. Suggesting that  Mandela's concern for human rights could tromp his desire to maintain Cold War alliances seems an overstatement of the case. During a visit to South Africa when he was President of the United States, Bill Clinton had complained about South Africa's ties with Libya. To the raucous laughter of those attending a press conference given by Clinton and Mandela during this visit, Mandela unpolitically told Clinton that the ANC government would not abandon those who came to its aid during its fight against apartheid. That meant maintaining continuous friendship with Libya. Zuma's much criticized actions may be counter productive to both the interest of South Africa and Africa as a whole but it is not against Mandela's views. African countries in general and South Africa in particular may want to rethink the strategy of simply standing against the West, as some did during the Cold War and paid heavily for it, even when this is not in their interest.