Notes Following International Relations Peace and Security (IRPS) Cluster Media Briefing, Imbizo Media Centre, 120 Plein Street, Cape Town, Thursday, 9 February 2006.

Comments by Chair of the Cluster, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma

As you know, this cluster deals with more long term rather than immediate short term issues.

Before we begin, I'd like to add South Africa's voice to paying tribute to the late Coretta Scott King and convey our condolences to the government and people of Egypt following the ferry accident last week in which over a thousand people were killed.

I would like to begin by dealing with the African issues:

African Union Summit

As most of you would know, we held the African Union Summit in January 2006 in Sudan. Here we dealt with the extensions of the institutions of the African Union.

The Summit discussed the Court on People and Human Rights and elected judges, one of which is South Africa. The Court is a very important institution of the African Union.

There was also a change of guard with the Republic of Congo begin appointed Chair of the African Union.

We also looked at issues surrounding Sudan - the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that governs relations between the North and South. I am happy to say that despite some hiccups, both sides are adhering to the agreement.

Regarding Darfur - we looked at the viability of continuing the peace mission there since funding of the mission is becoming a challenge. Since this is an African Mission, it is not necessarily funded by the United Nations.

We looked at the budget of the African Union during which there was some heated debate. The budget was presented in two parts - one dealing with the contributions of member states and the other of donors. South Africa felt that we should have been presented with one budget that should be funded by Africans themselves. It would be impossible to own programmes otherwise.

We looked at the situation in Côte d'Ivoire.

We also welcomed the President of Liberia as the first female President in Africa's history. This is significant for two reasons - first because she is the first female head of state but secondly because African heads of state took a decision that there should be gender parity in all matters of governance and that reports would be presented to the AU in this regard. We have been monitoring the implementation of this by governments and I am pleased to say that there has been an increase in the number of women appointed to Cabinets in Gabon, Tanzania, etc. The policy has therefore taken root in African governance.

We discussed NEPAD and its implementation

We began and will continue to have discussions on the integration of the Continent until July 2006. This process began in Abuja last year at a meeting attended by President Mbeki. While this was a brainstorming session, the matter will be further discussed at the next Summit of the AU.

· On the the national side: The Department of Foreign Affairs has been saying that it would increase its representation on the Continent. I am pleased to say that we are making progress in this regard and perhaps we would have representation in each African country by the end of our mandate in 2009.

· We will be fully engaged with the Peer Review Process since both Kenya and South Africa will be peer reviewed this year.

· On peace and security issues - we will continue to participate in Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo with regard to their elections, post conflict reconstruction and development in Burundi, and sustainable development programmes in Southern Sudan. Although we do work with the North, we believe that post-conflict reconstruction for Sudan in general and Southern Sudan in particular must be accelerated.

· We have begun fulfilling our commitment to prepare a SADC brigade for the African Standby Force. In this regard, we hope to contribute to the peace and security of Africa through South Africa and SADC through this force. As you know, the Standby Force is constituted of brigades from each of the 5 sub-regions in Africa.

· We will continue to engage bilateral with countries like Sierra Leone, Guinea and off course those with whom we already have relations.

· We continue to participate in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) - as you know there will be a summit in Cuba in September 2006 and a Ministerial meeting in Malaysia in May 2006. The NAM Troika meeting recently held in Hermanus was in preparation for these meetings.

· India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) will meet in Brazil this year - our heads of state may also meet during the year. We are at present concentrating on renewable energy and transport matters in IBSA.

· We will continue the work between African and Asia as begun at the Africa-Asia Summit in Indonesia in April last year. We will continue to accelerate relations between both continents - we co-operate in political matters very well but our economic relations do not match our political relations. It is important that our trade and economic relations be strengthened to reflect our political relations.

· As you know, South Africa is chairing the G-77 + China this year - we will participate in United Nations activities as the Chair.

· Regarding United Nations reform: the Peacebuilding Commission has been finalised and matters relating to the administration and management of the Human Rights Council are presently being discussed.

· We will continue to do what we can to support the implementation of the Roadmap in the Middle East.

· As you know, Iran has withdrawn from voluntary confidence building measures and will now only be governed by Nuclear-Non Proliferation protocols. We will continue to monitor the situation and sincerely hope that the matter can be resolved without further conflict.

· Regarding sport, this is a very important matter since it contributes to a better life for all South Africans. It is a pity that we have not been performing very well in some sporting codes. However, we can look at this as a learning curve ahead of 2010. We must however ensure that we improve ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup since we would like South Africa to be amongst other African countries to do well at the tournament.

We have also implemented the Sports for Development and Peace programme. In this regard, we will work with the United Nations who have just realised that sport is a very important tool for education, health, etc. Youth should be participating in sport from childhood. South Africa will also sign the Anti-Doping Convention later this year and will be deploying a strong team to the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

· With regard to trade matters, we are ensuring our diplomats are highly skilled not just in political matters but in trade and economic ones as well. They must be highly skilled in matters of economic diplomacy since Foreign Affairs officials are the only ones found so prominently in the world.
· We will also work on ensuring that we increase the number of investments into South Africa and the number of investments in other countries.

· We will also follow up the outcomes of the Hong Kong round of the World Trade Organisation Talks (WTO).

· We are also looking at how the African financial institutions can play a role in the African agenda and particularly in the implementation of NEPAD.

· With regard to Haiti: elections were held on Tuesday, 7 February 2006. Unfortunately, the biggest political party, Lavalas could not participate in these elections. We will await the outcomes of these elections.

· We will also continue our work with regard to the African Diaspora.

· South Africa will also later this year host the Pan-African Women's Conference.

Questions and Answers

Question Minister Dlamini Zuma, are you able to provide a progress report on Zimbabwe? The country is in a state of economic collapse. Is the government of South Africa concerned?

Answer Let me begin by saying that I am the Foreign Minister of South Africa and not the Foreign Minister of Zimbabwe. Off course the South African government is concerned about Zimbabwe, as we would be about any African country that is not doing well since we move from the premise that all African countries should be prosperous. There have been discussions between both governments at various levels. And while we are in constant engagement with the government of Zimbabwe, there is no new plan that can be revealed at this stage.

Question Minister Dlamini Zuma, President Mbeki on Sunday evening alluded to a possible new constitution for Zimbabwe saying it has been initialed.

Answer I believe the President was referring to a constitution negotiated a while ago between both sides. While it was initialled by the negotiating teams, it has not yet been adopted.

Question Minister Dlamini Zuma, is South Africa or the NAM planning any new initiatives with regard to Iran - other than to just monitor the situation?

Answer There is a Board Meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in March where the Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei will provide a status report for the consideration of the members of the board. The NAM members of the Board will participate in this. The matter will be further discussed following the outcome of this meeting. However, the IAEA is the body best placed with the relevant expertise to handle this matter.

Question Minister Lekota, could you please update us as to the status of the Mercenary Bill and how it can be implemented with regard to countries like Iraq?

Answer South Africa is very actively pursuing the path of peace and therefore becomes very concerned by South Africans who get involved in situations that are counter-productive in this regard.

Amendments to the legislation are being proposed - while we cannot prevent South Africans from becoming involved in conflict situations, we will attempt to ensure their activities are conducted under national initiatives.

However, where there is a clear and demonstrable transgressions by South Africans, we will act firmly.

Question Minister Lekota, you were in Côte d'Ivoire 10 days ago where the opposition party and Guillaume Soro refused to meet with you because they believe you are actively supporting President Gbagbo. What do think of their allegations and what do you think of the extension of the mandate of the National Assembly?

Answer I am not aware that Forces Nouvelles have put it on record that they are unwilling to talk to us because we are supporting President Gbagbo. The focal point of our visit was to assess the situation since the appointment of the new Prime Minister in November last year and the implementation of the Pretoria Agreement - what has been done, what must still be done, and how progress can be advanced.

We also engaged with various stakeholders.

When we requested a meeting with Forces Nouvelles, and even offered to travel to Bouake to facilitate this meeting, we were told that they were not ready to receive us.

We did however meet with Amadou Kony on Wednesday in Abidjan where he received the same briefing as that presented to all the other stakeholders.

We were informed that Forces Nouvelles would also submit a written report to the mediator. We suggested that they come to Tshwane where they can discuss in person the content of that written document with the Facilitator. In this regard, there will be a meeting of the Facilitator and a delegation from Forces Nouvelles at a mutually convenient time.

With regard to the National Assembly - we have received extensive briefings from the Prime Minister and other stakeholders - the mandate of the National Assembly was extended by the International Working Group upon its expiration. This is based on the premise that it is impossible to take a process forward if all existing institutions are demobilised. A very volatile situation can erupt if existing institutions are demobilised hastily.

Question Minister Dlamini Zuma, on the question of Darfur - why is there a need for an African peacekeeping force - why has the situation not been resolved by the government?

Answer As you know, there is no political agreement regarding the situation in Darfur. Discussions in this regard are still ongoing. Peace is not just about the silencing the guns - peace is a much broader concept. Although there is no active fighting in Darfur, we believe the peace mission should continue.

Question Minister Stofile, what two pieces of legislation will be finalised ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup?

Answer These pieces of legislation are enabling laws - one is legislation that pertains to financial matters, ie. tax, VAT, etc and the other is a Special Measures Bill that will facilitate visa arrangements for FIFA delegates, security matters, etc.

Question Minister Dlamini Zuma, could you please clarify the future of President Aristide in South Africa?

Answer President Aristide is a guest of the South African government. Neither the South African government or President Aristide believes he is here for life. He will be a guest for as long as is necessary. It is therefore important to analyse the situation following the recently concluded elections. We will return to Haiti when the situation is conducive for him to do so.

Question Minister Dlamini Zuma, could you kindly elaborate on the training being provided to diplomats to enhance economic diplomacy?

Answer Such training has already begun and some officials have been doing the work albeit informally. Trade and economic matters are now being incorporate into the curriculum of our training institute. Let me also say that we would like to consolidate our work as a cluster and not work in a vacuum.

Question Minister Dlamini Zuma, could you kindly indicate if a meeting has been scheduled with Hamas?

Answer As far as I know, no date has been set at this time.

Question Minister Dlamini Zuma, have you held discussions with the government of Angola regarding the postponement of their scheduled elections?

Answer As you know, Angola is a sovereign state and South Africa is neither chair of the African Union or SADC. We cannot therefore prescribe to Angola what should be done.

They have probably decided though, that following their assessment, it is not possible to hold elections at this time and that they would have to be postponed.

Question Minister Dlamini Zuma, what conditions must be in place before President Aristide can return to Haiti?

Answer Stability, assurance for his safety, that he will be a free citizen and be able to lead a normal life.

Question Minister Dlamini Zuma, you mentioned last year that you would begin engagement with Swaziland. What is the status of this?

Answer We have held discussions with Swaziland. There is also a commission in place although this must be launched. We are scheduled to visit Swaziland soon.

Question Minister Dlamini Zuma, is the compromise on the Chair of the African Union consistent with our position as South Africa?

Answer As you know, we agreed in Abuja in January 2005 that the Chair of the AU and the host of the AU would not be synonymous. You also know that the chair is awarded on a rotational basis - so it was now the turn of East Africa. Sudan was canvassing for the Chairmanship as a candidate for East Africa. The next region to hold the Chairmanship would have been central Africa. When we asked Central Africa for a candidate we were given the Republic of Congo which was a nomination acceptable to all.

As you the Chair of the AU has to deal with many matters relating the peace and security, etc. It would not be possible to Sudan to be impartial, as Chair of the AU, in matters relating to Sudan. This is a very important issue for the AU at the moment.

Question Minister Dlamini Zuma, you last year said a Protection of Investments Agreement would be signed between South Africa and Zimbabwe. Could you let us know what is the status of this?

Answer As far as I know, the matter has been concluded, it is now for the Ministers of Trade and Industry to sign the agreement.

Question Minister Dlamini Zuma, is the DRC ready for elections?

Answer As you know, the UN is in charge of security and has the responsibility of deploying peacekeepers. SADC has also been discussing the matter and it was also discussed at the meeting of the Troika on Monday in Namibia. SADC, MONUC and the DRC government will hold discussions on the matter.

Issued by Department of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Tshwane
0001

9 February 2006