Big egos play out at Brics summit

THE Chinese paid a Durban restaurant more than R50 000 a day to keep its doors shut, and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff had towait for about an hour in her plane in deference to her more demanding Russian counterpart.

This is but some of the drama that played out behind the scenes as leaders of four of the world’s emerging superpowers — Brazil, Russia, India and China, as well as South Africa— met in Durban for the fifth Brics summit this week.

President Jacob Zuma, Rousseff, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and China’s Xi Jinping displayed a comradely spirit throughout the two-day summit, but it has emerged that tension between some of their security personnel at times reached boiling point, largely owing to the demands made on the hosts.

The Chinese were the most security conscious, booking out the entire Southern Sun North Beach hotel where Xi and his large delegation were staying.

To ensure that the hotel was not frequented by outsiders, the Chinese paid the adjoining Piatto eatery to keep the restaurant closed for four days.

According to South African organisers with detailed knowledge of what the visitors were up to, Chinese officials arrived on Monday with their own furniture and chefs for their leader’s comfort.

Staff at the hotel and restaurant were reportedly offered paid leave until the Chinese left on Thursday. “The Chinese were not taking any chances . . . their leaders even used a special lift that was operated by their security,” said the source.

The Russians got involved in an altercation with local security as soon as Putin landed at the King Shaka International Airport. The source of the conflict was that Putin’s and Rousseff’s flights had arrived at almost the same time.

Putin’s security demanded that he should receive first priority. According to officials, Rousseff — accompanied by a back-up plane — had to wait for close to an hour while Putin’s delegation was being received by Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.

Although South African security chiefs had laid out elaborate plans to ensure the safety of the Brics leaders, the Russians again clashed with local security at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre because some of them wanted to enter the summit venue armed.

Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, later told Russian television: “Football they [South African authorities] organise better. There is a lot of confusion.”