South Africa calls for urgent UN Security Council meeting after US ‘capture’ of Maduro and wife

Thebe Mabanga 

South Africa on Saturday called for the United Nations Security Council to urgently convene as the United States confirmed that Venezuela’s President, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife Cilia Flores, had been charged with drug and weapons charges after being captured and removed from their home country.

Their arrests followed a pre-dawn attack known as Operation Absolute Resolve, in Caracas and the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira. The attack was condemned by Venezuela and some of its regional neighbours, and Russia, among others. 

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said it noted the developments with “grave concern” and described them as a “manifest violation” of the United Nations Charter, which protects sovereignty and prevents countries from taking military action against each other. 

“History has repeatedly demonstrated that military invasions against sovereign states only yield instability and deepening crisis,” DIRCO said in a statement.

“Unlawful, unilateral force