in honour of the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Ahmed El Bashir, Tuynhuys,
Cape Town
6 November 2007
Your Excellency, President Omar Hassan Ahmed el Bashir
Your Excellencies, Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Your Excellencies, Ambassadors and High Commissioners
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Your Excellency, we are truly delighted that you found time to visit our
country, accompanied by your wife, Mme Widad Babkir, and an important
delegation. On behalf of the government and people of South Africa I would like
to extend the warmest welcome to you and your delegation.
I also wish, through you, Your Excellency, to convey our greetings to the
government and people of Sudan.
We are very happy to be with you in South Africa because among other things,
your visit has enabled us to strengthen our bilateral relations, especially the
Joint Bilateral Commission, which as Your Excellency knows, we launched in May
2006.
We will further consolidate our bilateral relations by signing a number of
agreements tomorrow, these being:
* The Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Economic Co-operation,
* Agreement for the Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investments,
* Agreement on Co-operation in the Fields of Arts and Culture,
* Statement of Intent on Social Development,
* Memorandum of Understanding on Defence Co-operation,
* Memorandum of Understanding on Co-operation on Immigration, Population and
Election Matters,
* Bilateral Trade Co-operation Agreement.
These agreements, Your Excellency, demonstrate that our partnership is
indeed growing stronger and most importantly, embraces people to people
relations.
As you are aware, Your Excellency, South Africa continues to give such
assistance as it can so that the sister people of the Republic of Sudan achieve
the progress which all your people desire.
Among other things, we continue with the implementation of the Capacity and
Institution Building Project which involves the Government of Southern Sudan,
our Department of Foreign Affairs and other structures of our government, and
the University of South Africa. To date, fourteen training programmes have been
implemented and over 700 individuals have been trained in various elements of
state administration.
In this regard, we are indeed very pleased that an agreement has been
reached to conclude all the matters that led the Sudan People's Liberation
Movement (SPLM) to suspend the participation of its members in the central
government of Sudan. I would like to assure you, Mr President, of our full
support for this decision, as well as our readiness to do everything necessary
and possible to assist in this regard.
I would like to take advantage of this happy occasion once more to confirm
that we consider Sudan as a vitally important African country that has the
potential to occupy the front ranks in the continuing struggle to achieve the
African Renaissance, which includes the unity of our Continent.
We are very honoured that we can count on Sudan as a strategic partner. We
are therefore determined to work with you, Mr President, further to strengthen
our bilateral relations, within the context of a focused programme of
co-operation covering many areas.
We will also strengthen our co-operation and consultation with regard to
multilateral issues, such as the development, the renewal and the unity of our
Continent, Palestine and the Middle East, the conclusion of the Doha
Development Round, the reform of the United Nations (UN), and so on.
Your Excellency, we are, like you and the rest of our continent, deeply
interested in the speedy resolution of the conflict in Darfur. We agree fully
with the Government of Sudan that:
* the Abuja Peace Agreement provides the framework for the peaceful
resolution of the conflict in Darfur,
* all the armed factions in Darfur should participate in the African Union
(AU)-United Nations (UN) peace talks hosted by Brother Leader Moumar Khadafi
and the Libyan Jamahiriya,
* the international community should take firm action against anybody who
wilfully absent themselves from these negotiations, choosing to engage in
violent actions against the innocent people of Darfur,
* the AU-UN hybrid force should be deployed without further delay, and all
outstanding issues in this regard should be solved as a matter of urgency on
the basis of existing United Nations decisions and by agreement between the AU,
the UN and the Government of Sudan,
* all necessary steps should be taken to ensure the security of the civilian
population and the internally displaced people in Darfur, as well as create the
conditions for humanitarian assistance to reach the sections of the population
in need.
I would like to assure Your Excellency that we remain seized of the question
of further strengthening our contribution to the peace forces deployed in
Darfur, to add to the military and police contingents we have sent to Darfur as
part of AU Mission in Sudan Darfur (AMIS), in keeping with the needs of the
AU-UN hybrid force, bearing in mind the fact of our deployments in the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi.
We thank you and your government, Your Excellency, for your partnership in
one of the New Partnership for Africa's Development's (Nepad) important
projects, the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy), the 9 900 km long
submarine cable between Durban and Port Sudan, which will radically reduce
telecommunications costs in Africa. We trust that this cable will indeed become
operational by the end of 2008.
Indeed, Your Excellency, despite the many challenges that we face as
individual countries, we have the duty to ensure that the African Union and its
programmes succeed. At the same time, we are confident that our efforts will,
in time, bring development and prosperity to our people.
Once more, Your Excellency, I am pleased to extend to you, your wife, Madame
Widad Babkir, and the rest of your important delegation, a warm welcome to our
country and our thanks that you have honoured us with your visit.
Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, please rise and join me in a toast
to the good health and prosperity of His Excellency, President Omer Hassan
Ahmed el-Bashir and to peace, solidarity and friendship between the peoples of
the Republics of Sudan and South Africa.
To friendship!
Issued by: The Presidency
6 November 2007
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