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Politics
Chris Saunders, Emeritus Professor, University of Cape Town

Mikhail Gorbachev: southern Africans have a special reason to thank him

Mikhail Gorbachev Soviet Union De Klerk Cold War Eastern Europe ANC Moscow Nuclear Weapons United States
Mikhail Gorbachev at his news conference following a summit with US President Ronald Reagan in Reykjavik, Iceland in 1986. Photo by Bryn Colton/Getty Images

The whole world has much to thank Mikhail Gorbachev for. As many have pointed out since his death in Moscow earlier this week, Gorbachev – the last leader of the Soviet Union – did more than anyone to bring the Cold War to an end peacefully, reducing the threat that nuclear weapons might be used.

He allowed the countries of Eastern Europe to move out of the Soviet orbit and towards democracy in 1989. And he tried to set Russia on the path to a more democratic society. His actions led to the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991.

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