New foreign minister says peace a priority

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.