'South Africans prefer peace'
14 February 2003
South Africans prefer peace to war and know from their experience that without peace there can be no development, says President Thabo Mbeki.
Delivering his State of the Nation Address in Cape Town on Friday, President Mbeki said South Africa was involved in measures to avert war in Iraq because the country knows the pain of war and the immeasurable value of peace.
"We have taken the positions we have, not to oppose or support any country, nor to seek any glory. We have done what we have because, as South Africans and Africans, we know the pain of war and the immeasurable value of peace.
"During the last century, South Africans lost their lives in the titanic battles of the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War," he explained.
He added that South Africa was sending an envoy to the oil-rich country to share with the government, scientists, engineers, technicians and people of Iraq its experience relevant to the mission
of eradicating weapons of mass destruction, under international supervision.
South Africa voluntarily destroyed its arsenal in the early nineties following the transition from an apartheid form of government to a democratic one.
"I am pleased to inform the Honourable Members that Iraq has accepted our offer, which we have already discussed with the leadership of the weapons inspectors. We trust that this intervention will help to ensure the necessary proper cooperation between the United Nations inspectors and Iraq, so that the issue of weapons of mass destruction is addressed satisfactorily, without resort to war."
He expressed government’s appreciation of Iraq’s positive response to its suggestion, as well as the recent decisions it had taken to allow the U2 and other aerial surveillance flights, to encourage its citizens to be interviewed at any location decided by the inspectors without any Iraqi officials present, and to adopt legislation prohibiting the
production of weapons of mass destruction.
"To assist with regard to this last matter, we have given Iraq copies of our own legislation dealing with weapons of mass destruction, the Non-Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction Act of 1993, as well as Notices and Regulations published in terms of the Act in the period between 1997 and 2002."
President Mbeki’s remark came on the same day that UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix was expected to deliver a crucial report to the organisation explaining whether the Gulf nation was fully cooperating in accordance with the UN’s 1441 resolution.
"Their report may very well decide the question whether the peoples of the world will continue to enjoy a global peace", Mbeki said.
President Mbeki’s special envoy to Iraq, Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad, returned from Iraq on Thursday and was expected to brief Mbeki on his trip, part of efforts by South Africa, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the African Union (AU)
to avert a war.
President Mbeki expressed trust that Parliament would pronounce itself unequivocally in favour of peace and against war.
"We urge that our national Parliament should express itself in favour of the peaceful eradication of any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, for Iraq’s respect for the decisions of the United Nations Security Council, for respect by all countries of the principle and practice of multi-lateralism, for the continuing responsibility of the United Nations with regard to issues of international peace and security, and the peaceful resolution of international conflicts."
Source: BuaNews
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