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Statement regarding United Nations Security Council to Visit
Africa Pretoria - South Africa will, together with the United Kingdom, head
the visit of the United Nations Security Council to the Headquarters of the African
Union in Addis Ababa, to Accra, Ghana as well as to Sudan, Cote d'Ivoire and Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC) from Saturday - Friday 16-22 June 2007. Under South
Africa's co-leadership in Addis Ababa the UNSC will hold discussions with the
African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC) that will focus on identifying
ways in which the cooperation between the two bodies can be further enhanced.
The discussion will also address some of the conflict situations on the agendas
of the UNSC and the AU PSC. South Africa is honoured to have been nominated
as a leader of this visit to Addis Ababa in view of the decision to use our two-year
tenure in the UNSC to seek ways of deepening the relationship between the UN and
the African Union. It will be recalled that during South Africa's presidency
of the Security Council in March 2007 Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma chaired
a UN Security Council thematic discussion on the subject. The agenda of the UNSC
continues to be dominated by African conflict situations. The visit to
Ghana is also significant in view of the fact that Ghana is the current chair
of the African Union. The visit by the UNSC to Africa generally comes against
the backdrop of positive developments in some of the countries on the agenda of
the UNSC. The successful elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and
the signing of the Ouagadougou Peace Agreement by the leaders of Cote d' Ivoire
both signal new beginnings for these countries. It is imperative that the international
community continues its support to ensure that progress achieved is not reversed.
The acceptance by the Government of Sudan of the UN-AU hybrid force for
Darfur is a significant step in the international efforts to resolve the situation
in Darfur. Issued by Ronnie Mamoepa on 082 990 4853 Department
of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria
0001 14 June
2007
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