POLITICS: South Africa Welcomes the Hope of Peace in Congo

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Farah Khan

STELLENBOSCH, South Africa, Dec 18 2002 (IPS) - South African leaders have welcomed the hope of peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo, lambasted the possibility of war with Iraq and maintained their support for Zimbabwe, but said it was necessary to deal with the political and fall-out dogging this ‘’sister country”.

Speaking at the ruling African National Congress’s conference in Stellenbosch outside Cape Town, President Thabo Mbeki said that without peace in the DRC, ‘’you cannot say the continent’s moving forward”.

He welcomed the signing of a power-sharing accord among the interest groups of the DRC in Pretoria, the capital of South Africa, on Tuesday, saying immediate attention needed to be paid to protecting the rebel groups who would return home in order to secure the peace deal. South Africa would consider sending troops to the DRC, as it had done in Burundi, said Mbeki.

The signing of the peace deal this week went to the wire, with parties working through the night to seal it before dawn on Tuesday. It provides that elections will be held in 30 months time – only the second democratic elections since independence from Belgium in 1960.

Incumbent DRC President Joseph Kabila will maintain his presidency, and will serve with four vice presidents, drawn from the main rebel groups and the unarmed opposition. ‘’It is the best Christmas present we can give our people,” said DRC ambassador to South Africa, Bene M’poko.

Further down the government structures, the various ministries will also be distributed among the main groups to give meaning to the power sharing agreement. The resource-rich Congo is potentially an African powerhouse, which has been ravaged by a four-year war, involving eight countries. Delegates to the peace talks were warmly welcomed at the South African ruling party’s 2,700-strong national conference as they came to share their hope of peace.

Equally well-received was former President Nelson Mandela’s shunning of a potential war in Iraq.

He kept up the barrage of criticism against ‘’the rise of unilateralism” in world affairs. ‘’One must not be dishonest and evade the real issue that the United States (with the United Kingdom in tow), has tended to dangerously disregard the principles of multilateral world governance,” he said.

Adherence to multilateralism was the only way that globalisation would be successful, said Mandela. But it was essential to restructure the ‘’ management and running” of global affairs to ‘’allow democratic equality amongst nations and regions”.

In this context, he was extremely worried about the U.S.’s ‘’serious disregard” for the Security Council and the UN and the growing impression that the country was ‘’intent on military action against Iraq at all costs” .

While South Africa’s stance on Iraq is generally well-received in the developing world, the jury’s out on whether its policy of ‘’quiet diplomacy’ ‘ with Zimbabwe has worked. For the past two years, South Africa has maintained an engagement with and support for the ruling ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe.

Part of the reason for this is historical: ZANU-PF and the ANC maintain fraternal relations because they are both liberation movements turned ruling parties.

In attendance at the ANC’s meeting was Zimbabwean parliamentary speaker and ZANU-PF secretary for administration, Emmerson Mnangagwa. To loud applause, he told delegates that Zimbabwe’s transfer of 11-million hectares to blacks was an ‘’agrarian revolution whose long-term benefits far out-weight other considerations”.

He blamed the media for the negative perceptions of Zimbabwe and did not refer to the economic meltdown in that country. Mbeki, however, said it was necessary to ‘’bring to a close the controversial issues relating to our important neighbour, Zimbabwe”.

He added that South Africa still supported talks between ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).