N Dlamini Zuma: Parliamentary Media Briefing, February 2006

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 would 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 (AU) Summit

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

There was also a change of guard with the Republic of Congo being appointed
Chair of the AU. 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 (UN).
We looked at the budget of the AU 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. I
t 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 New Partnership for Africa’s Development (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 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 Southern African
Development Community (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 of 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 UN activities as the Chair.

Regarding United Nations reform:
The Peace building 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 UN 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 initialled.

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
(IAEA) 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 transgression 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 AU 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 (DRC)
which was a nomination acceptable to all.

As 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: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
9 February 2006