Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba, Director-General, Department of International Relations and Cooperation:
Okay, we will start colleagues, and it just to introduce to you first before I start, Mr Saul Molobi. Saul is our Head of Public Diplomacy and so, he will be the main link with you then moving forward. He was working in the Department of Trade And Industry before and subsequently worked in Limpopo. He has just joined us, started on the 1st of November, and so you will see more of him in the days to come.
1. President Jacob Zuma's visit to Equatorial Guinea on 4 November, 2009:
Now, coming into today's briefing, the first part is really just to indicate, as you know, we have the successful visit by the President to Equatorial Guinea, which was more around strengthening bilateral relations.
We are having specific areas that we are looking at, agriculture, mining, energy and infrastructure development. And those of you who have been to Malabo would know that there is a lot of reconstruction that is taking place currently in my Malabo, in Equatorial Guinea. We had signed a number of agreements some time back and we had felt that it was an opportune time for us to go back as part of the President's programme of really re-establishing contact with some of the countries on the Continent.
Just to say, as you know, that the President's visit coincided with the release of the South Africans who were arrested in there, and this was as a result of a Presidential pardon, which had followed the due processes in Equatorial Guinea. I think we can say that the relevant authorities in the Republic of South Africa were informed that this was going to happen and, of course, South Africa did not register any opposition to that, given that this was a sovereign decision of the government of Equatorial Guinea to take that decision, and as I said, following their own processes in terms of the Presidential pardons.
As was indicated in the media, we indeed confirmed that all those who were released came back to South Africa are now with their families. You would have had the statements that were released by the Department of Justice, which alluded to the fact that, in terms of South African law, we regard the situation as closed for now and therefore, we do not believe that there is any other action that is being planned, and I think we will take our authority also from the Department of Justice.
2. Latest political developments in Zimbabwe
The next area I would like to talk about is just some brief comments on the Special Troika Summit of the Organ of Politics, Defense and Security, which was in Maputo, to try and breathe some life into the inclusive government in Zimbabwe as a result of the circumstances that we are all familiar with. Just to say that this followed on a visit of the Ministerial Troika to Zimbabwe, carrying on the mandate that had been given to the Troika of the Organ by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Summit in Kinshasa, as you would recall.
When they got into Zimbabwe, it was quite clear that there were some issues that they saw as impediments to the successful operation of the inclusive government and hence, the Ministers recommended that the summit should meet. President Zuma was invited to this because of the specific role that South Africa plays in Zimbabwe. The other Head of State, who was not a member of the Organ Troika who had been invited, was President Kabila in his capacity as Chair of the SADC. Unfortunately President Kabila could not attend. You are all familiar then with the outcome of that meeting.
The main things that I would really say that it was quite clear to us that it was important for the SADC to assert the fact that our own understanding is that the global political agreement and the decisions of the Special Summit, which was held here in January 2009, here in this capital, that we see those as being part of what really drives the agenda in Zimbabwe.
Because there had been a lot of disputes about technicalities, when in fact the issue of the Governors and the issue of the Governor of the Reserve Bank were part of the global political agreement and I think the statement of the SADC Troika Summit was categorical in stating the point that the Global Political Agreement (GPA) is read together with the decisions that were part of an implementation of the GPA.
We are indeed very happy that the MDC has gone back to the inclusive government. We are encouraged by the fact that all the parties in Zimbabwe, regardless of the differences, communicated very clearly to the heads of the region that the inclusive government essentially is the only game in town, and that everything should be done to make sure that the inclusive government becomes successful.
We are also happy with the decisions that had been taken, particularly the timelines that had been given to the parties in Zimbabwe namely, to try and make sure that they attend to all outstanding matters within about 15 days, maximum 30 days, after which then we would expect that there would a be verification by the Organ Troika to see that, indeed, that the decisions that should have been taken, have been taken.
3. The Kimberly process:
Another issue that is related to Zimbabwe that we have participated in, and just to clarify our own position on it, as you know, there had been a meeting of the Kimberley Process, which was in Swakopmund, which ended on Thursday last week. Just to say that, of course, it was a very heated discussion. There are three sites of diamond mining in Zimbabwe. Two of them had not been under any (inaudible), there are no problems with two of the sites. But the one site is the site which has been an area of recent mining activities and this is where some of the problems that have been previously reported, had occurred.
You know that in the discussion within the Kimberley process there were different views. Some people had called for the suspension of Zimbabwe. Others, the majority, which was then the dominant position that was finally held, is really to agree with the governments of Zimbabwe on a very tight work plan which will try to restore the operations in that particular area, to fully accord with the expectations and the decisions of the Kimberley Process. And we are particularly happy with that outcome. We think it is the correct outcome.
4. Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane led a South African Delegation to the Forum on Africa-China Cooperation (FOCAC), 8 to 9 November 2009, Egypt.
Today we also, just a day after the conclusion or on the last day of the meeting that is taking place in Egypt, of the Forum for Africa-China Cooperation, which was a very important meeting. By all accounts, what we have got so far is that it was a very successful meeting.
A number of issues were on the agenda. But perhaps just to indicate that, you would recall that the first FOCAC Ministerial was in 2000. The second one was in 2003. And the third FOCAC Ministerial Meeting just preceded the Summit which was in November 2006. So this was the fourth Ministerial of FOCAC. You would also recall that in the Summit of 2006 there was the Beijing Action Plan, which was adopted, covering the period 2007 to 2009 and, consequently, this fourth Ministerial was then going to adopt this Programme of Action covering the two-year period from 2010 to 2012.
As South Africa, of course we have an interest in this, in the work of FOCAC and our focus has been at two levels. One at a bilateral level to look at what it is that South Africa can leverage in terms of this partnership between China and Africa. But also more importantly for us has been to make sure that there is sharing of ideas, exchange of ideas with the People's Republic of China, so that FOCAC reinforces initiatives currently going on within the Continent. And it was in that context that on the 23 October, here in Pretoria, we did host the Head of the Africa Branch, in the Foreign Ministry of China, who basically has been the person driving FOCAC. And we exchanged ideas and I must say we are very comfortable with the drift that this meeting was going to take, particularly around a number of issues that I would like to highlight.
The first one that we have been raising is really to make sure that China does not only deal with African countries on a bilateral and individual basis, that it is important for us to respect and strengthen the existing multilateral structures, namely the AU, and more importantly, to see greater involvement of the Regional Economic Communities. And so we expect that this would come out very explicit.
Secondly, we saw a need for us to look particularly at the area of infrastructure development on the Continent and agriculture, natural resources and energy exploration, but to link this with the issue of local procurement and also the use of labour within the Continent. Many of you would know that this has been one of the sensitive issues in terms of the projects that China runs on the Continent, and I think that we got a very clear commitment from China and, of course, we will see whether this will be carried beyond the FOCAC meeting now.
The other area was really to try and look at some cross-border projects, particularly in the Eastern African region, Southern and Eastern Africa. Now, again, I think it is important to know that sometimes what constrains the People's Republic of China in dealing with cross-border projects is their sensitivity with dealing with projects that would benefit countries who are undermining the one-China policy. And, as are most of you would know, that in our region, of course, we have got the situation that Swaziland is in that particular situation, as viewed by the People's Republic of China, because of their close ties between the Kingdom and the Republic of China, namely Taiwan. But generally, I think we will give a detailed account of that once all the outcomes of that meeting have been put into place and coordinated.
5. Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane's visit to Sri Lanka, 11 to 12 November 2009
The next area that I would like to cover is just to confirm, indeed, that Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane will be visiting Sri Lanka. We have met the leadership of Sri Lanka, first in the NAM Summit and also in New York, and they have been very anxious to want to South Africa to re-engage with the process in Sri Lanka.
We have spoken to the Norwegians (involved in peace process in Sri Lanka). Essentially the main challenge in Sri Lanka, as you know, is now the process of national healing and making sure that everybody's satisfied that what were allegations of abuse during the final push of the offensive of the Sri Lankan Army against the Tamil Tigers, that there is some halting of that and in fact, the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are reconnected with their families as soon as possible. And so, those are some of the issues that we will be raising very sharply. And, of course, we will be looking at issues of bilateral cooperation with Sri Lanka.
But I think it will be fair to say that in addition to the bilateral agenda, looking at reactivating our own structures of bilateral cooperation, that a significant part of the discussion will relate to our own anxieties as a country about how to manage that process of national reconciliation, and moving from the position of our general concern, also because South Africa has a significant interest also precisely because we have got a significant community in South Africa that shares cultural and identity linkages with the people of Sri Lanka.
6. Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane to undertake an official visit to India, 12-15 November 2009
Thereafter the Minister will pay a visit to India and this will be again a bilateral visit. Obviously we will straddle on a number of multilateral issues. Whilst in India, needless to say, apart from the bilateral issues that we will focus on, the Minister will be partly preparing for a State Visit by President Zuma to India sometime in the early part of next year.
We have also been anxious, both with India and Brazil to make sure that the bilateral agenda does not get subsumed under the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) agenda. So, part of this visit is also to focus on those issues that are very important for the two countries from a bilateral perspective, but do not necessarily have a bearing on the work of IBSA.
Now, there are a number of areas that are important for us with respect to this discussion with India. One, there is a discussion that has been going on around the establishment of a free trade area between India and SACU countries. There has been the issue of a number of MoUs, one telecommunication, one on SMME development, and also the issues of looking at strengthening the partnerships on small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in particular, and building as the next major task to be carried out by the CEO Forum that exists between the two countries. Obviously we would discuss with them a number of regional and multilateral issues.
7. Madagascar
The next area I would like to briefly cover is Madagascar. With respect to Madagascar, just to say that whilst we were busy with the meeting in Maputo, we were aware of the meeting that was going on in Addis Ababa at the time. We obviously have been very encouraged by the meeting that took place on the 6th of October in Madagascar that led to some sort of informal agreement, and we are anxious that the parties should indeed, in a sense, formalise the agreements that they had reached.
We are happy that there is movement forward. We can of course see that there might be some difficulties with the implementation of some of the decisions, but we really do not believe that those difficulties are beyond the leadership of Madagascar to look at. Particularly the issues of the President and the co-Presidents, I think, is going to be something that they will have to manage very delicately.
The second issue is going to be the issue of the President, co-Presidents versus the powers of the Prime Minister. Again, it would require to be managed very delicately. But at least now we are in a position where the top structure of the interim administration has been sanctioned by all the parties concerned and I think that it is a significant breakthrough.
We are also following very closely the developments that are taking place within some of the movements, for example the fact that there is now reports that the former Prime Minister is now forming the another movement and also the issue of the former Foreign Minister who is positioning himself to contest the presidential elections after the interim period. And all those, I think, are issues that both reflect probably a bit of opening up of the democratic space, but also at the same time are issues that may themselves be either sources of conflict and I think we will just keep a close watch on those issues as things continue.
Of course we are also happy with the fact that the allocation of the ministerial positions has been agreed on, as well as the 65 member transitional council and the transitional congress, the 258 member transitional congress. So I think all of those are positive things with respect to Madagascar and we will be following the developments very closely.
8. Guinea Conakry
Finally, just to say, and this we will not give much detail on, because we ourselves are in the process of trying to gather some information. I am sure that some of you have picked up that there are reports which largely come from the French media which relate to involvement of what is alleged to be South African mercenaries in the current conflict in Guinea, Conakry.
We are following that very closely and we are trying to establish the veracity of those reports. And secondly, we also, it has been brought to our attention that there may well be South Africans in the business sector or that there are companies that have got connections with South Africa that may actually be under stress at the present time because of the activities of the military junta there. And, again, we are keeping a close watch through our Mission in Conakry and we will do whatever is appropriate then to deal with situation, should there be any South Africans that require support or assistance from the government, and we will deal with that as things emerge.
Thank you very much; I think that is really what I would like to end on.
