On 12 January 2007, just a few days after taking its seat for the first time on the United Nations (UN) Security Council, South Africa voted against a resolution calling on Myanmar's government to cease military attacks against civilians in ethnic minority regions.
Pretoria's vote against human rights shocked many South Africans and foreign observers who felt it had betrayed the human rights-first foreign policy legacy of Nelson Mandela. The government offered several rather tortured justifications for its surprising vote.
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