MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th June, 2023) South African journalists from a plane that was stranded at Warsaw airport doubt if they will be able to join their country's president, Cyril Ramaphosa, on a visit to St. Petersburg, the SABC news broadcaster reported on Saturday.
"We've lost the Ukrainian leg and it seems we will also lose the Russian leg. Ultimately we think it will be really difficult for us to proceed with the trip to Russia," reporter Ntebo Mokobo was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.
He added that Polish authorities had detained their luggage.
Another South African journalist, Amanda Khoza, also said on Twitter they had spent the night in a hotel in Warsaw without their luggage, calling the situation a "logistical nightmare." Her colleague Pieter Du Toit likened the experience to "escaping purgatory."
The SABC News reported that the journalists, police officers and soldiers spent a total of 26 hours on the plane before being allowed to disembark.
On Thursday, Ramaphosa's guards and the pool of journalists got stuck at the airport for a day. The head of the South African president's security service, Major General Wally Rhoode, accused Poland of trying to disrupt the peace mission in Ukraine, since Ramaphosa was due to arrive in Kiev after his visit to Warsaw.
The Polish border guard said that the South African leader's security personnel voluntarily stayed on the plane in Warsaw, as they did not have a permit to transport weapons. The Polish border authority did not mention journalists in its statement. The reporters said that they were also not allowed to leave the plane at the airport in Warsaw, while the South African president had already arrived in Ukraine as part of the African peace mission.
On May 16, Ramaphosa said he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on behalf of African countries, and presented them with a peace initiative from Zambia, Senegal, the Congo, Uganda, Egypt and South Africa. Ramaphosa said that both presidents agreed to receive the mission of the leaders of African nations with their peace initiative on the conflict.
On June 5, the Brazzaville Foundation, one of the organizers of the African peace initiative, said that the African leaders would meet with Zelenskyy in Kiev on June 16 and with Putin in St. Petersburg on June 17.
