POLITICS-IRAQ:
South Africa Plays Down Africa's Vote in the UN
Anthony Stoppard
JOHANNESBURG, Mar 12 (IPS) - South Africa is playing down its efforts to get the three African countries - Angola, Cameroon and Guinea - sitting on the United Nations Security Council to vote against a resolution that would clear the way
for the United States to launch an attack on Iraq.
The United States accuses Iraq of hiding weapons of mass destruction and is determined to disarm the Middle Eastern country - with military force if it deems it
necessary.
Surprisingly, South African foreign affairs officials insist the country is
not lobbying for the African nations represented on the Security Council to
vote against the resolution. ''We are not lobbying anybody. Those countries
are aware of African Union (AU) and Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) resolutions
against the war,'' says a spokesperson for the South African Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, Ronnie Mamoepa.
South Africa's apparent reservation about lobbying the African countries to vote
against the resolution is surprising. President Thabo Mbeki has taken a lead in marshalling international opposition, especially in the developing world, against a U.S.-led attack on Iraq. Under Mbeki, who chairs NAM and the African Union, both organisations have adopted declarations calling for the peaceful resolution of the conflict and condemning the threats of war.
The director of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), Greg Mills, points out that South Africa may have very little influence on the three African countries serving on the Security Council.
South Africa has sometimes a difficult relationship with Angola. Angola is
influential in the Southern African region and presently chairs the 15-member Southern African Development Community (SADC), where South Africa is the major regional power. The two countries had some differences during efforts to end the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where South Africa was trying to broker a peace deal, while Angola was giving military support to the DRC government.
Mills also points out that Cameroon and Guinea are perhaps politically and
culturally closer to France - which is leading opposition to a possible U.S.-led war in the Security Council - than mainly English speaking South Africa. As a result, South Africa may have very little capacity to influence the decisions of the three African members of the Security Council.
Mills warns that if the Security Council votes for a resolution that would clear the way for an attack on Iraq, it would be a setback for South Africa, because of its public opposition to the war.
But Washington is not resting. Media reports say U.S. President George Bush called Mbeki on Monday and asked him to help persuade the African members on the Security Council to support his efforts to get UN support for an attack on Iraq. Mbeki has also been on the telephone to the leaders of France and Britain in an effort to find a way to resolve the Iraqi crises and the deadlock in the Security Council.
So far, South Africa is sticking to its guns. While insisting that Iraq must show that it is disarming, it remains opposed to any attack on the Middle Eastern country.
For now, six members of the Security Council, including the three African nations, have proposed that Iraq be given 45 days to meet a series of benchmarks that would clearly show that it is meeting international demands to prove it has no weapons of mass destruction.
South Africa is vehemently opposed to a U.S.-led war against Iraq because of
the threat the resultant fall-out poses to the country's economy and the New
Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) - a programme to kick-start the
social and economic development of the continent.
Economist Tony Twine points out that if an attack on Iraq sparks a sustained
spike in the international price of oil, the knock on effect caused by the increased cost of fuel could force South Africa into another bout of inflation.
South Africa is still struggling to deal with a hefty dose of inflation brought on by a collapse in the value of its currency late in 2001. The inflation brought about increases in the price of food, which took many South Africans to the brink of starvation.
Another round of price increases will put more pressure on the ability of poor South Africans to survive, and throttle the country's relatively good prospects for economic growth in 2003.
At the same time, the South African Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Aziz Pahad, has warned that the threat of war was hindering plans to implement NEPAD. ''All these programmes will be placed on the back burner if there is a war against Iraq,'' said Pahad, who was speaking at a press briefing on Monday. He had just returned from Nigeria where African Heads of State had met to discuss implementation plans for NEPAD.
It has also been announced that 40 South Africans are scheduled to travel
to Iraq next week to act as human shields in Baghdad, if the United States decides to
attack the Middle Eastern country. The Iraq Action Committee of South Africa
says the volunteer group would join hundreds of people from other countries
to act as witnesses against possible U.S. attacks against civilian
infrastructure. (END/2003)
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