Veteran Envoy Calls South Africa’s Reputation for Instability “Fake”

By Ambassador Herman Cohen

Retired Ambassador Herman Cohen was part of the Foreign Service for 38 years, serving in the NSC in the Reagan White House and as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the H.W. Bush administration.

The new Fund for Peace 2017 Fragile States Index (FSI) shows South Africa as increasingly unstable, ranking third in stability for Africa, behind Botswana and Ghana, and one of the most-worsened countries in the past decade. Retired Ambassador Herman Cohen, who served as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the George H. W. Bush Administration, however, told The Cipher Brief’s Kaitlin Lavinder the country’s reputation for instability is inaccurate, and that recent protests against the current government are a sign of a functioning democracy. 

The Cipher Brief: What is going on in South Africa right now?

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