25 September 2007

President Thabo Mbeki leads a high-powered South African delegation to the 62nd session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week.

South Africa is to participate in the general assembly, which kicks off on Tuesday and is expected to conclude next Wednesday, as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.

On Monday and Tuesday, Mbeki is due to hold discussions with French President Nicholas Sarkozy, Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and World Bank president Robert Zoellick.

The South African delegation includes Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad and Ambassadors Dumisani Kumalo and George Nene.

Mbeki will address the general assembly, where issues such as climate change, progress towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals, reform of the UN system and counter-terrorism are expected to dominate talks.

He will also address the Security Council meeting, hosted by French President Nicholas Sarkozy, on peace and security in Africa.

Following its election to the Security Council, South Africa has committed itself to helping create synergies between the African Union's Peace and Security Council and the UN Security Council in maintaining peace and security as well as preventing outbreaks of conflicts in Africa.

Dlamini-Zuma will also hold meetings with the G5 Outreach Group of the G8 (South Africa, China, Mexico, Brazil, India), the Non-Aligned Movement on Palestine, the foreign ministers of Jordan and Sri Lanka, and representatives of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic.

Speaking to journalists in Pretoria last week, Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said peace and security challenges in Africa would also be on this week's agenda.

"Conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction and development are key areas of discussion at the United Nations with regards to the DRC, Ivory Coast, Sudan - especially Darfur - Liberia and Burundi," Pahad said.

"They will be high on the agenda of discussions in both the General Assembly and the Security Council.

"We will use this opportunity to get a further commitment from the United Nations to intensify their efforts towards conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction and development in Africa."

Pahad represented South Africa at a high-level ministerial meeting of the Security Council in New York on Friday to discuss the situation in Darfur.

During the debate, South Africa voted alongside all members of the Security Council on the need for the deployment of an AU-UN hybrid operation to bring an end to the conflict that has left millions of people displaced and countless others maimed or killed in the war-torn region of Sudan.

Source: BuaNews

	South African President Thabo Mbeki addresses the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly, New York, 19 September 2006 (Photo: Marco Castro, United Nations)

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	United Nations  African Union  Department of Foreign Affairs

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