Mr Pahad arrived back in SA today, after holding talks with senior government officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and President Saddam Hussein of the oil-rich Middle Eastern country.
The move formed part of efforts by the NAM, AU and the South African government to avert a possible US-led war on Iraq, whom they accuse of possessing weapons of mass destruction.
South Africa is the current chairperson of the two organisations.
During his visit, Mr Pahad delivered a letter from President Mbeki to President Hussein.
Earlier this week, the department of foreign affairs (DFA) said the deputy minister’s meetings with the Iraqi leadership were held in a positive spirit, where South Africa stated its position to do all that it could to prevent an imminent war.
He also shared with them on how to comply with the UN inspectors in the light of South Africa’s own experience with regards to weapons of mass destruction, which had been hailed by the international community as a shining example.
South Africa destroyed its arsenal in the early nineties during the transition from an apartheid form of government to a democratic one.
‘These meetings which took several hours laid a solid foundation for the audience granted to deputy minister Pahad by President Hussein…as the deputy minister left Baghdad, he was confident that as a country, we did not simply fold our arms in the wake of a looming human disaster, but did everything possible to avert war,’ DFA said.
Furthermore, deputy minister Pahad and his principal Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will participate in an anti-war protest in Cape Town on Saturday.
Thousand of people from various religious bodies, political parties and non-governmental organisations will be taking to the streets to voice their concerns over the possibility of war.
The purpose of the march was to state that all South Africans had a responsibility to stop the imminent war on Iraq and secure peace and development the world over, said chairman of the South Africa Council of Churches Molese Tsele.
‘We are united in our conviction that war against Iraq is wrong. It is wrong because it is the poor who will be the main victims. It is wrong because it will inflame, rather than resolve global conflicts, particularly those in the Middle East. It is wrong because forces of power and greed motivate it,’ said Mr Tsele, who called on locals to rally behind their call to march. – BuaNews
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