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Mbeki
Commits South Africa To Role In Mideast Peace Process
JOHANNESBURG
(AFP) - President Thabo Mbeki has pledged South African support and commitment
to the fragile Middle East peace process, backing a proposal to deploy U.N.
observers and asking for "reassurance" for Palestinians.
Speaking
in Doha, where he is attending a summit of the Organization of the Islamic
Conference in his role as current head of the Non-Aligned Movement, Mbeki told
SABC-TV late Monday that sending a U.N. buffer force could be "very
important."
"We
need to arrive at a just and stable peace, we need to address the interests of
the Palestinian people," said Mbeki, a day after private talks with
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
He
stressed that South African officials were also in constant contact with Israeli
authorities over violence that has been raging in the West Bank and Gaza Strip
for almost seven weeks. "These are matters that we engage with them all the
time," Mbeki said.
"It's
important to find a way to end this conflict, to ensure that Israeli forces pull
out of these Palestinian areas and that there must be some reassurance given to
the Palestinians that this thing is not going to recur," he added.
"The
matter has been raised of the possibility of some observer force of the U.N.
that would be able to act as a barrier" between Israelis and Palestinians,
Mbeki added. "It's very important."
Israeli
Foreign Minister Nawaf Massalha, visiting Pretoria last Thursday, asked South
Africa to help to settle the conflict, but "not to encourage one side or
the other".
He
said he also believed that calling in former president Nelson Mandela to mediate
could help bring about a solution, telling reporters: "We continue to
respect the leadership of South Africa and Mr. Mandela."
South
African officials have stated that intervention by Mandela, 82, is not on the
cards. He still keeps to a grueling schedule as an international statesman and
has a series of engagements, but last week had to call off an upcoming trip to
Jordan after a bad bout of flu.
Massalha, the first Arab Muslim to serve in the
Israeli government, said that while the outlook was not promising, peace talks
had to continue. The talks could take place anywhere, he said, maybe even
"in Pretoria".
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