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Pahad questions whether the US can win the peace in Iraq

9th April 2003

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Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday it was likely that the United States-led coalition would win the conflict in the Iraq but he questioned whether it would win peace in that country.

"The entire region is unstable, I do not think the US will be able to sustain peace in Iraq. The Iraq issue cannot be divorced from the Mideast situation," he said.

Pahad, African National Congress MP Pallo Jordan and Witwatersrand University Professor Shadrack Gutto addressed a public meeting on the war in Iraq in Johannesburg on Tuesday night.

Pahad said it was clear that the US and Britain had undermined the power of multi-nationalism by attacking Iraq without the sanction of the United Nations.

"The war must not set a precedent which further undermines multilaterism and, especially the authority of the UN and the Security Council --institutions that were established to deal with problems peacefully and through dialogue," Pahad said.

He said South Africa reaffirmed the African Union (AU) and Non-Aligned Movement's position that war was not a solution to disputes between states.

South Africa should not to be disillusioned by the UN's failure to avert the war.

"We will mobilise other African countries to have our interests heard by the UN.

"Africa has shown the world that it can deal with problems through dialogue and it intends to fight all its problems by engaging the concerned parties," he said.

He claimed many people were being brainwashed by reports by journalists who sided with the US.

"We are subjected to propaganda where journalists are praising the US soldiers," he said.

In his address, Gutto said "the US and Britain want a UN that will not question them on anything that they do".

"The US and Britain want a UN that will come to Iraq and clean the mess and help a government of occupation that will be headed by a retired US solider.

"The US is taking the world back to colonial imperialism where it could move into any country and change the government," he said.

He challenged the UN to remove the government that he said would be imposed on the Iraqi people by the US after the war.

"The UN must help Iraq to get the government they want and it must also deal with war crimes."

Gutto said the AU should be asked to take a collective decision on US about the Iraq war.

"The AU should speak out clearly against the war and it should also demand that US and Britain are permanently suspended by the UN."

He also urged Africans to use their power as consumers to challenge the US.

"We have a great power to boycott US goods and culture. We must deal with the enemy where it hurts most. The US has invested in most countries throughout the world and we should begin to review some of the investments," Gutto said.

Pahad also said he was very proud of how the children in South Africa reacted when they were asked to write about the Iraq war.

"Most of them wrote prayers, poems and composed songs with a clear message that they were aware that the Iraqis are suffering in their own country."

Pahad said the children reacted spontaneously and they wanted to know why innocent people were being killed.

"These children are beginning to feel what most adults feel when watching television or reading on the Iraq war." - Sapa
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