Notes following Portfolio Committee Briefing by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma Old Assembly, Parliament, Cape Town Wednesday, 10 November 2004

Introductory remarks and welcome by Minister Dlamini Zuma

• Our foreign policy is firmly anchored in our national policies - that which we want for South Africa is that which we want for the world - there is a great consistency in this regard.
• At the centre of our foreign policy is our focus on Africa - quite predictably so.
• South Africa's destiny is firmly tied to that of Africa - our fortunes and misfortunes are tied to each other.
• Our work in Africa is divided into two sections:
• What we do in continental organisations;
• Work that is done to consolidate our bilateral relations between countries.

Work in Multilateral For a

• The African Union (AU)
• A lot of time, since 1999, has been taken up on the evolution of the Organisation of African Union (OAU) to the African Union (AU).
• As you know, the AU was officially launched in 2002 - since its inauguration in Durban, some institutions have been operationalised - at this stage we are awaiting the operationalisation of the courts and financial institutions.
• Work is divided into peace and security and development issues.
• Peace and security issues are very time consuming but essential to the achievement of developmental issues - peace is a pre-requisite for development.
• South Africa is involved in many peace efforts:

DRC

• the situation is fragile but there is no war and the transitional government is able to proceed with its work. The greatest challenge at the moment is that the country's various armed forces must be integrated for movement and stability.
• There must be one national defence force with an allegiance to the country, not a faction.
• In addition, we must move with more haste in order to prepare for elections scheduled in July.
• However, there are objective and subjective difficulties - which are not insurmountable.
• We must however continue working towards the July deadline - the population of the DRC is very keen for these election - the transitional government will have great difficulty in containing the emotion of the people if elections are postponed.
• As you also know, the process of identifying Congolese, etc must be completed + the logistical difficulties of holding the elections themselves - there are big challenges and these elections will be similar to those held in South Africa in 1994 - ie. although these elections will not be sophisticated, we believe they will be able to adequately express the will of the Congolese people.
• However, much support is required - including the finalisation of the formation of one defence and police force.
• Material support will be required not just from Africa but from the international community.
• It is important to remember that institutions must be strong for sustainable democracy.

Burundi

• The process in Burundi is moving slowly but surely.
• A referendum will soon be held.
• There are still apparent challenges - particularly around the United Nations Committee set up to deal with the atrocities of the past. There must be an assurance of amnesties, etc.
• However the process thus far is very impressive.

Darfur and North and South Sudan

• The situation must be resolved - although there has been progress, matters have not sufficiently been sorted out.
• A catastrophe was diverted with regard to Darfur but there is still much work to be done.
  · Negotiations for a political solution are still ongoing through the Chair of the African Union, which is Nigeria.
• We hope that the situation will soon be under control.
• However, many resources are required - the AU alone cannot shoulder the material responsibility, the international community must become involved.

Cote d'Ivoire

• There is a real problem.
• President Mbeki has only this morning arrived from Cote d'Ivoire.
• This area is of great concern to us all - a full scale war in Cote d'Ivoire will affect many other countries - this possibility must therefore be controlled otherwise the spillover effects for the region will be disastrous.

Zimbabwe

• All I will say is that we hope that elections scheduled for 2005 will go well - that the SADC guidelines will be used as basis on which the elections will be held - these are the minimum standards to which countries of the region should aspire. Countries can exceed this but they should never fall beneath these.
• President Mugabe did, at the UNGA 59, assure us that these guidelines will be used as a basis for the elections.

Swaziland

• We are awaiting the position of the Swazi people following the amendment of the Constitution.
• The European Union (EU) had taken a decision to begin censuring Swaziland but have decided to halt this process until the Constitutional process has been finalised.
• · However, we continue to discuss matters quietly with the leadership of Swaziland.

Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Comores have more or less settled down.

Strengthening of institutions

• Sub committee of Peace and Security Council must be operationalised eg. The Early Warning System; Council of the Wise; African Standby Force - there will be five battalions, one from each region of the AU - these battalions will train and do exercises together but will go the parent defence forces in quiet times - this force will however be mobilised rapidly; Common Defence Policy - there is the idea that there should not be conflict within states on the Continent - this policy is not necessarily external in its focus.

Developmental Issues

• In this regard, I refer to NEPAD - NEPAD will stand or fall depending on what African communities do - the international community will not participate in NEPAD unless we ourselves illustrate our commitment to this programme.

Gender Equality

• This matter is critical to Africa - especially with regard to the integration of women in all sectors of society, government, etc.
• The AU has taken this matter very seriously - 50% parity is required especially in public institutions.
• Private sector initiatives towards gender parity should be supported fully.
• Each Head of State must present a report on an annual basis to the AU in terms of achievements in gender parity.

Bilateral Relations

• Politically, South Africa has very strong relations will all African countries.
• However, bilateral economic relations must be consolidated.

Multilateral

• The fight against poverty, security and disarmament issues are very important to South Africa.
• The reform of the United Nations Security Council and all other UN institutions must be expedited.
• It is South Africa's view, in the absence of the report by the United Nations Security Council that the UN and all its institutions must be reformed and strengthened - ECOSOC, UNGA, and the Security Council
• The United Nations Security Council - this still reflects the reality of a post World War II scenario - the world has changed dramatically since then. The Security Council must reflect the world of the 21st century - we believe it should be expanded to include countries that reflect the bigger membership of countries and regions that belong to the UN. In addition, the Security Council must be responsive to the needs of the different regions - not just those of the P5. Should the Security Council be expanded, South Africa has decided it would like to be part of an expanded Security Council - in addition, our view is that Africa should not be treated differently from the rest of the world - the dispensation applicable to the rest of the world should be applicable to Africa.
• Charter - although it is not our view that the Charter be changed fundamentally, we do believe it should be refined - eg. Chapter 8 rules should be better defined.
• Gender sensitivity - we believe the UN should become more gender sensitive although we cannot be assured this will happen.

Fight Against Terrorism

• We support the fight against terrorism, disarmament and nuclear-non proliferation in its entirety.
• Nuclear non-proliferation is based on three principles:
• Disarmament by nuclear states;
• Non-proliferation of non-nuclear states; and
• Access to technology by non-nuclear states.
• We believe these principles should be implemented fairly and equitably.
• Millenium Development Goals

• We believe South Africa will achieve these goals before 2015 - however, the rest of Africa should be assisted to achieve these goals as well.
• The developed countries are not honouring their commitments to finance projects for development.

Multilateralism

• This issue is key for South Africa
• We believe this is the only way forward for the global environment.

South-South Co-operation

• We are doing much to co-operate in this regard
• As you know, there will be the Asia-Africa Summit in 2005 during which both regions will discuss co-operation beyond political relations.
• IBSA Dialogue - this can be expanded at a later stage - we began with three countries in order to consolidate the work of this forum.

Questions and Answers

The question-and-answer session focused on the following issues:

• resolution to the conflict in Ivory Coast, a
• approach to the war on terror;
• possibility for peace in the Middle East;
• situation of Roy Bennett in Zimbabwe;
• working with new Bush administration including pushing for fair trade;
• progress re Darfur;
• situation in Somalia;
• involvement of civil society in continental efforts and processes like NEPAD

Ivory Coast [Questions by B Holomisa, D Gibson, M Mpaka; S Pheko]:

• Minister Dlamini Zuma gave an historical outline to the current problems in the Ivory Coast, concluding that that it is not a religious conflict, but rather dissatisfaction with recent disenfranchisement of naturalised Ivorians and their citizenship rights;
• Recent Agreements by the Gbagbo govt to inter alia amend the Constitution had not been honoured and govt's recent military action against rebel areas have fuelled the hostilities;
• ECOWAS forces have been in the Ivory Coast with French troops under a UN mandate and the African side of the force could now be strengthened in light of the current resistance against the French contingent.

War On Terror (Holomisa; Gibson):

• On the issue of international terrorism, the UN must be the lead agent and any issue on this ie definition of a terrorism must be handled through UN processes.
• Possibility for peace in the Middle East (Gibson): The solution of the conflict between Israel and Palestine is in the interest of world peace. If President Arafat does not recover, a new Palestine leadership, could offer a new opportunity for peace in the Middle East region. The new US administration has an important role to play, but it is Israel and Palestine that must show the political will to resolve this conflict. The lead on the peace process will have to come from the Quartet, but we will assist as required. South Africa was encouraged by the meeting it held with representatives of the Likud Party in SA recently.
• US future foreign policy (Gibson): SA will continue to work with the newly elected US President, George Bush in strengthening our good bilateral relations. When you have good relations, you are able to differ on certain issues. I am in strong agreement with Mr Gibson on pushing the issue of fair trade and we are hoping the WTO's latest round would indeed have a more positive outcome for developing countries of the world/end