"BRICS exercises "required" in the face of tensions at sea – South Africa Marine exercises "The Will of Peace 2026" began on Saturday off the coast of Cape Town"

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The beginning ceremony of the “Will of Peace 2026” exercise in Cape Town. © South African National Defence Forces

South Africa considers joint exercises with its allies with BRICS – Russia, China and Iran – to be an absolute necessity, given the current tensions on the advanced seas, said 1 high-level commander.

Exercises “The Will of Peace 2026’ began on Saturday off the coast of Cape Town, just a fewer days after the US forces took over a Russian-flagged tanker due to charges of violating Washington's sanctions against Venezuela.

The United States has besides late taken over 5 another tankers in the Caribbean as part of the maritime blockade of this Latin American state.

Deputy Minister of defence of South Africa Bantu Holomisa said on Friday that the exercise was not a consequence to the fresh U.S. actions, indicating that they had been planned for months.

"Let us not panic due to the fact that the United States has a problem with countries.

They are not our enemies” – He said. Holomisa stressed that focus should be on "Cooperation with BRICS countries and ensuring the safety of our seas, especially the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic".

According to media reports, South Africa, China and Iran sent destroyers to exercise "Will of Peace 2026"and Russia and the United arabian Emirates represented corvettes.

another BRICS countries – Brazil, Indonesia and Ethiopia – sent their observers to exercise to end on 16 January.

The 3rd edition of Mosi (Smoky) sea exercises between China, Russia and South Africa was initially scheduled to take place in November close Cape Town.

However, the exercises were postponed due to the G20 Summit, which was scheduled to take place in South Africa in the same month.

It was later decided to postpone their deadline, give them a fresh name and increase the number of participating countries.

Translated by Google Translator

source:https://www.rt.com/news/630806-south-africa-russia-china/

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