Members of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s security team who were to accompany him on his mediation mission to Ukraine on Friday were detained in Poland, according to officials from both countries, provoking a diplomatic incident.
Mr. Ramaphosa’s head of security, General Wally Rhoode, accused the Polish authorities of being “racist” and “endangering” his president’s life, after his men were blocked on arrival at Warsaw’s Chopin airport.
The Polish government reacted on Friday by deeming these statements “inane”, explaining that some of the people on board the plane from South Africa did not have weapons permits and were therefore not allowed to disembark.
“They were not allowed to leave the plane with their weapons. They considered that they would stay on board,” said a government official from the Polish special services, Stanislaw Zaryn.
The charter flight had left Pretoria early on Thursday, with some 120 people on board, including members of the South African security forces and journalists who were to follow President Ramaphosa on his trip to Kiev as part of a peace mediation mission led by African leaders.
Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in the Polish capital on Thursday aboard the South African presidential plane Inkwazi, then travelled by train to Kiev, where he arrived on Friday, according to the presidency.
The incident at the airport provoked the anger of General Rhoode, who spoke out in an impromptu press conference on board the charter plane: “They are delaying us, they are putting the president’s life in danger”, said the general in a video posted on Twitter.