Can new US ambassador mend ‘serious’ strains in US–South Africa ties?
The new US ambassador to South Africa, Leo Brent Bozell III, has struck a more encouraging tone on arriving in Pretoria, pledging to look for 'shared purpose' even as relations between Washington and South Africa remain strained.
Bozell has begun the formal process of assuming his post after handing copies of his letters of credence to South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) on Monday, 23 February, through Acting Chief of State Protocol Clayson Monyela.
In a welcome video released by the US embassy after his appointment was made official, Bozell said it was “an honour of a lifetime” to serve in South Africa and that he wants to build a partnership that “strengthens the ties between our peoples”.
“We face challenges, yes, and some are serious,” he said. “But strong relationships are built not on the weight of those challenges but on the power of shared purpose.”
At his US Senate confirmation hearing in October, Bozell said, amongst others, that he would press South Africa to end its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and objected to what he called Pretoria’s “geostrategic drift” toward US rivals, including Russia, China and Iran.
However, Bozell highlighted that “more than 500 American companies” are invested in South Africa and said he wants to work with South African leaders, innovators and communities to “turn possibility into progress”.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
