Since 1988, the black-green-and-gold flag of the African National Congress has hung on a central Moscow building near the White House, looking as official as any embassy marker.
But with South Africa's first nonracial elections just weeks away, South Africa's "second" embassy in Moscow has been instructed to close its doors.
At a meeting in Johannesburg last week, the ANC leadership told the heads of all its foreign missions to close, because their objectives had been accomplished, said Thembe Thabethe, head of the Moscow office, in an interview Wednesday.
The announcement marks the ANC's evolution to a legal political party in South Africa, and closes the door on its campaign to isolate the nation from the international community.
The offices "were intended to enlighten the international community on the apartheid situation, and to solicit their assistance in the struggle against apartheid," Thabethe said.
At the height of the ANC's struggle, in the late 1980s, there were about 40 such missions worldwide, Thabethe said.
Some, like the one in Moscow, as well as Cuba and Kenya, were granted diplomatic status, and even financed by their host nations. The Soviet Union's Committee on Solidarity With Africa and Asia supported the mission here, said a spokesman for the South African Embassy, Wim Kotze.
Until 1991, the South African government itself had no embassy in Russia. Relations were normalized in 1990.
Thabethe said he, like most mission directors, will return to South Africa following the elections on April 26-28. It will be the first time since he fled 18 years ago that he has gone back to live in his home country.
Thabethe said he left South Africa in 1976 after helping to organize students to protest African education, leading to the Soweto uprising which focused world attention on apartheid.
With the help of the ANC, Thabethe said he fled to Nigeria, until he received a scholarship to attend Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow in 1979. He was named director of the Moscow ANC mission in 1991, he said.
But with South Africa's first nonracial elections just weeks away, South Africa's "second" embassy in Moscow has been instructed to close its doors.
At a meeting in Johannesburg last week, the ANC leadership told the heads of all its foreign missions to close, because their objectives had been accomplished, said Thembe Thabethe, head of the Moscow office, in an interview Wednesday.
The announcement marks the ANC's evolution to a legal political party in South Africa, and closes the door on its campaign to isolate the nation from the international community.
The offices "were intended to enlighten the international community on the apartheid situation, and to solicit their assistance in the struggle against apartheid," Thabethe said.
At the height of the ANC's struggle, in the late 1980s, there were about 40 such missions worldwide, Thabethe said.
Some, like the one in Moscow, as well as Cuba and Kenya, were granted diplomatic status, and even financed by their host nations. The Soviet Union's Committee on Solidarity With Africa and Asia supported the mission here, said a spokesman for the South African Embassy, Wim Kotze.
Until 1991, the South African government itself had no embassy in Russia. Relations were normalized in 1990.
Thabethe said he, like most mission directors, will return to South Africa following the elections on April 26-28. It will be the first time since he fled 18 years ago that he has gone back to live in his home country.
Thabethe said he left South Africa in 1976 after helping to organize students to protest African education, leading to the Soweto uprising which focused world attention on apartheid.
With the help of the ANC, Thabethe said he fled to Nigeria, until he received a scholarship to attend Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow in 1979. He was named director of the Moscow ANC mission in 1991, he said.