South African President Cyril Ramaphosa recently said his administration is willing to mediate the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas militants, that began on October 7. The war has so far claimed thousands of lives in the region, including foreign nationals caught in the crossfire from South Africa, Tanzania, United States, Russia and France. For more, VOA’s Paul Ndiho spoke to Mundia Paul Hakoola, a political analyst and the executive director at a Lusaka, Zambia-based research nonprofit, Continental Leadership Research Institute.