Sello Tang and Zibonele Ntuli
4 April 2006
President Thabo Mbeki is to go on a "working visit" to the troubled Middle East, Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday, confirming that the President had accepted an invitation to visit the region.
During a state visit last week, the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, made a clear request for support from South Africa, saying: "Your participation and advice is essential under these complex and difficult circumstances, and we are confident that, with our dear friend President Mbeki and members of his government, we can reach a common position, through which we can push towards reviving the peace process in our region".
Abbas swore the militant Hamas political formation into government a day before he travelled to South Africa, following its recent election victory.
'Opportunity for peace'
Briefing the media in Pretoria, Pahad said that following the outcome of last week's
elections in Israel, which saw the newly formed Kadima party emerge as the dominant political party, it was "clear for the first time in Israeli history that there is a possibility of a coalition government.
Pahad said that, with Hamas now attempting to form a coalition government, these positive developments presented an opportunity for the two countries "to move jointly in finding peace in the region".
He praised the recently held Arab summit for taking a firm stand on helping the Israeli and Palestine governments, especially the Palestinians themselves, to find peace.
Oslo Agreement, UN resolution
The deputy minister indicated that South Africa was working on a particular framework for the Middle East, which supported the Oslo Agreement and the United Nations resolution on the regional impasse.
The Oslo Agreement was entered into between representatives of the Palestinian people and the state of Israel in Washington in 1995, involving the late Palestine Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat, former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and former US president Bill Clinton.
This agreement was a follow-up to the Oslo Agreement struck in 1993, the first peace agreement between Israel and Palestine.
The agreement covered solutions to issues such as the West Bank, regional security, Palestinian elections, transfer of land, transfer of civil power from Israel to Palestine, trade conditions between the two countries and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.
Hamas 'has a responsibility'
Pahad said that although there were two schools of thought regarding Hamas' recent election victory, South Africa was recognising the authority of the party in Palestine on "the grounds that they won the majority votes democratically.
"Hamas leaders must accept the responsibility to carry out all aspects of the Oslo Agreement; to end violence and find lasting peace in the region," Pahad added.
Pahad said Mbeki would not going to the troubled region on a state visit "but on a working visit". The date for Mbeki's trip has yet to be finalised.
Pahad and Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils were also scheduled to visit the Middle East, but this trip had since been cancelled to make way for Mbeki's trip.
Source: BuaNews
