This is not a conference organized by some SA citizen, it's organized by the sovereign wealth fund of the SA state, whose chairman is the Crown Prince.
In the Obama/Trump drone equivalency case -- or pick another president and some other war -- one might argue that the people are more culpable because we have a democracy. Note that given our vantage point, we might be inclined to make fine distinctions: popular vote vs electoral college, or 52% of the support etc.