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New foreign minister says peace a priority

[CAR] A recently burned house, Bamala Mbeti near Kaga Bandouro, CAR, 14 November 2006. Nicholas Reader/IRIN
Des villages entiers ont été incendiés dans le nord du pays, forçant les populations à fuir
    NEW YORK/BANGUI

    South Africa’s new foreign minister Nkosozana Zuma said peace in the southern African region and on the African continent as a whole are “especially high” on her list of priorities.

    Speaking during a television interview on Sunday, Zuma said that there had to be peace and stability in Africa because “without it the economic revival of the continent would remain an unrealisable dream.”

    She added that South Africa would continue to support the efforts of President Frederick Chiluba of Zambia who is chairing the Southern African Development Community (SADC) initiative to settle the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

    Zuma said an immediate ceasefire, followed by a troop standstill as well as the start of an all inclusive dialogue by the people of the DRC “remained the primary objective of all the talks which had taken place in South Africa in recent days.”

    The minister said that her deputy Aziz Pahad would be part of the South African delegation to the Lusaka summit on the DRC which is scheduled for 26 June.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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