Banquet remarks of the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, in honour of the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Ahmed El Bashir, Tuynhuys, Cape Town

Your Excellency, President Omar Hassan Ahmed el Bashir
Your Excellencies, Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Your Excellencies, Ambassadors and High Commissioners
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

Your Excellency, we are truly delighted that you found time to visit our country, accompanied by your wife, Mme Widad Babkir, and an important delegation. On behalf of the government and people of South Africa I would like to extend the warmest welcome to you and your delegation.

I also wish, through you, Your Excellency, to convey our greetings to the government and people of Sudan.

We are very happy to be with you in South Africa because among other things, your visit has enabled us to strengthen our bilateral relations, especially the Joint Bilateral Commission, which as Your Excellency knows, we launched in May 2006.

We will further consolidate our bilateral relations by signing a number of agreements tomorrow, these being:

* The Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Economic Co-operation,
* Agreement for the Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investments,
* Agreement on Co-operation in the Fields of Arts and Culture,
* Statement of Intent on Social Development,
* Memorandum of Understanding on Defence Co-operation,
* Memorandum of Understanding on Co-operation on Immigration, Population and Election Matters,
* Bilateral Trade Co-operation Agreement.

These agreements, Your Excellency, demonstrate that our partnership is indeed growing stronger and most importantly, embraces people to people relations.

As you are aware, Your Excellency, South Africa continues to give such assistance as it can so that the sister people of the Republic of Sudan achieve the progress which all your people desire.

Among other things, we continue with the implementation of the Capacity and Institution Building Project which involves the Government of Southern Sudan, our Department of Foreign Affairs and other structures of our government, and the University of South Africa. To date, fourteen training programmes have been implemented and over 700 individuals have been trained in various elements of state administration.

In this regard, we are indeed very pleased that an agreement has been reached to conclude all the matters that led the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) to suspend the participation of its members in the central government of Sudan. I would like to assure you, Mr President, of our full support for this decision, as well as our readiness to do everything necessary and possible to assist in this regard.

I would like to take advantage of this happy occasion once more to confirm that we consider Sudan as a vitally important African country that has the potential to occupy the front ranks in the continuing struggle to achieve the African Renaissance, which includes the unity of our Continent.

We are very honoured that we can count on Sudan as a strategic partner. We are therefore determined to work with you, Mr President, further to strengthen our bilateral relations, within the context of a focused programme of co-operation covering many areas.

We will also strengthen our co-operation and consultation with regard to multilateral issues, such as the development, the renewal and the unity of our Continent, Palestine and the Middle East, the conclusion of the Doha Development Round, the reform of the United Nations (UN), and so on.

Your Excellency, we are, like you and the rest of our continent, deeply interested in the speedy resolution of the conflict in Darfur. We agree fully with the Government of Sudan that:

* the Abuja Peace Agreement provides the framework for the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Darfur,
* all the armed factions in Darfur should participate in the African Union (AU)-United Nations (UN) peace talks hosted by Brother Leader Moumar Khadafi and the Libyan Jamahiriya,
* the international community should take firm action against anybody who wilfully absent themselves from these negotiations, choosing to engage in violent actions against the innocent people of Darfur,
* the AU-UN hybrid force should be deployed without further delay, and all outstanding issues in this regard should be solved as a matter of urgency on the basis of existing United Nations decisions and by agreement between the AU, the UN and the Government of Sudan,
* all necessary steps should be taken to ensure the security of the civilian population and the internally displaced people in Darfur, as well as create the conditions for humanitarian assistance to reach the sections of the population in need.

I would like to assure Your Excellency that we remain seized of the question of further strengthening our contribution to the peace forces deployed in Darfur, to add to the military and police contingents we have sent to Darfur as part of AU Mission in Sudan Darfur (AMIS), in keeping with the needs of the AU-UN hybrid force, bearing in mind the fact of our deployments in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi.

We thank you and your government, Your Excellency, for your partnership in one of the New Partnership for Africa's Development's (Nepad) important projects, the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy), the 9 900 km long submarine cable between Durban and Port Sudan, which will radically reduce telecommunications costs in Africa. We trust that this cable will indeed become operational by the end of 2008.

Indeed, Your Excellency, despite the many challenges that we face as individual countries, we have the duty to ensure that the African Union and its programmes succeed. At the same time, we are confident that our efforts will, in time, bring development and prosperity to our people.

Once more, Your Excellency, I am pleased to extend to you, your wife, Madame Widad Babkir, and the rest of your important delegation, a warm welcome to our country and our thanks that you have honoured us with your visit.

Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, please rise and join me in a toast to the good health and prosperity of His Excellency, President Omer Hassan Ahmed el-Bashir and to peace, solidarity and friendship between the peoples of the Republics of Sudan and South Africa.

To friendship!

Issued by: The Presidency
6 November 2007