Foreign Relations of South Africa

The foreign relations of South Africa have spanned from the country's time as Dominion and later Realm of the British Empire to its isolationist policies under Apartheid to its position as a responsible international actor taking a key role in Africa.

South Africa is active in the United Nations, the African Union and the Commonwealth of Nations. Considered a possible permanent addition to the United Nations Security Council, South Africa was elected in 2006 by the UN General Assembly to serve on the Security Council for the first time ever, and again in 2010, where it is currently serving a mandate that ends 31 December 2012.

Read more about Foreign Relations Of South Africa:  Post-apartheid, United Nations Security Council, Africa, Europe, Americas, Rest of World

Famous quotes containing the words foreign, relations, south and/or africa:

    Where the heart is, there the muses, there the gods sojourn, and not in any geography of fame. Massachusetts, Connecticut River, and Boston Bay, you think paltry places, and the ear loves names of foreign and classic topography. But here we are; and, if we tarry a little, we may come to learn that here is best. See to it, only, that thyself is here;—and art and nature, hope and fate, friends, angels, and the Supreme Being, shall not absent from the chamber where thou sittest.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    When one walks, one is brought into touch first of all with the essential relations between one’s physical powers and the character of the country; one is compelled to see it as its natives do. Then every man one meets is an individual. One is no longer regarded by the whole population as an unapproachable and uninteresting animal to be cheated and robbed.
    Aleister Crowley (1875–1947)

    To lib and die in Dixie!
    Away, away, away down South in Dixie!
    Daniel Decatur Emmett (1815–1904)

    “I’ll love you dear, I’ll love you
    Till China and Africa meet,
    And the river jumps over the mountain
    And the salmon sing in the street.
    —W.H. (Wystan Hugh)