Show of Ubuntu as African countries send rescue teams to Turkey and Syria

16 Feb

Show of Ubuntu as African countries send rescue teams to Turkey and Syria Lenin Ndebele 0:00 play article Subscribers can listen to this article K9 Unit officers rescued an 80-year-old woman in Turkey. Supplied

Turkey's good relations with African nations resulted in rescue missions to that country.
A silver lining for African diplomacy was on show as countries used their own resources for such rescue missions.
A SAPS team in Turkey rescued an 80-year-old woman found buried under a collapsed building.

Ubuntu and diplomacy were on show as African countries sent rescue teams to Turkey and Syria in the wake of a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake.

"Since the war in Ukraine, everyone has been competing for Africa's attention.

"Now, there's a natural disaster in a country that links Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Caucasia.

"Because it has generally enjoyed good relations with Africa, numerous countries have sent rescue teams," said Stevenson Dhlamini, an economist and political commentator from the National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe.

He said the assistance by African countries was important because it spoke volumes about the continent's intentions for global relations.

He said:

Most of Africa has ubuntu as a philosophy, that aptly means 'I am because of who we all are'. Instead of supplying guns like what happens out there, Africa is proactive in helping its allies in their hour of need, like this particular scenario in Turkey. When it's not war, Africa is there to help.

African heads of state sent messages of condolence to the people of Turkey.

Algeria was the first African country to send a rescue team to both Turkey and Syria. A team of 89 civil protection experts was dispatched to Turkey, while 85 were deployed to Syria.

They also sent 210 tons of humanitarian aid for both countries.

Tunisia sent a team with 15 tons of blankets and food, while Sudan last week sent a 40-member police team, along with 250 tents, 1 000 blankets and food.

Burundi sent "a specialised natural disaster intervention team in solidarity with the brotherly people of Turkey", Albert Shingiro, the foreign affairs minister, said in a tweet.

Afzal Motiwala, who runs an NGO called Nosh Foundation in Zimbabwe, along with his son, Zain, sought clearance in Zimbabwe to join rescue teams in Turkey.

WATCH | Survivors rescued from rubble in Turkey and Syria days after earthquake struck

Speaking from Turkey to the state-controlled media in Zimbabwe, they urged more Zimbabweans to take up the challenge.

Egypt's National Council for Human Rights, in a statement on Wednesday, called for "the unison of efforts on an international, regional and national level for a speedy response to make all capabilities and logistics in order to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian and Turkish people".

Egypt, last week, sent five military planes carrying emergency medical aid to Turkey and Syria.

The spokesperson for the South African Police Service (SAPS), Colonel Athlenda Mathe, said a team in Turkey carried out successful rescue missions, including saving an 80-year-old woman found alive in a collapsed building.

Turkey-Africa relations

Turkey is one of the top 10 nations in the world for providing development assistance, and it continues to be an important component of its pro-active foreign policy.

Its first international programme in Sub-Sahara Africa was in 1985.

Turkey hosted three African Summits, with the last being in December 2021, as part of neo-Ottomanism foreign policy and marked 2005 "the year of Africa".

According to Turkey's foreign affairs minister, Mevlut Çavusoglu, the country has 44 embassies across Africa.

In January, during his five-nation visit to Africa, which took him to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Gabon and Sao Tome and Principe, he reassured support for the continent – both in international engagements and addressing crises back home.

"We will continue to support the concerns of African people in all international fora. Despite the historical injustices during colonial times, global apathy towards natural disasters and famine, and unacceptable external interferences, the resolve of African nations to overcome these enormous challenges is outstanding," he said in a statement while in Rwanda.

In South Africa, he said: "Turkey's approach to Africa is built on an inclusive and equal partnership on the basis of mutual respect and a win-win strategy."

The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.

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