Afrique du sud, de Mandela à Zuma : les ambiguïtés d'une politique étrangère

he establishment of democracy in South Africa, symbolized by the election of Nelson Mandela (1994), has raised many hopes. The country, one of the few democracies in the continent, has embodied a model of institutional transition. Yet fifteen years after the first free elections, the disappointment is real. The foreign policy of the State has given up defending the values and principles of freedom, proudly displayed in the early 1990s. On behalf of the friendship forged in the struggle against Apartheid, the young democracy has sometimes been mistaken, supporting regimes ostracized by the international community. The country still has difficulty finding its place in the international scene. The next head of state who should be elected in Spring 2009 – probably Jacob Zuma – will be forced to define a clear political line.