Justice Minister Penuell Maduna and Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad will represent South Africa at a one day conference on Security, Stability, Development and Cooperation in Africa (CSSDCA) on the 28 August 1999 in Abuja, Nigeria.
The invitation from the Nigerian Government follows on the statement by President Olusegun Obasanjo made at the OAU Algiers Summit in July 1999, when he suggested the need for Africa to continue the work developed jointly by the Secretariats of the OAU, UN Economic Commission for Africa and the Africa Leadership Forum in 1991. It will be recalled that the CSSDCA was started by General Obasanjo with a view to strengthening African initiatives in the areas of stability, security, development and cooperation. The specific principles and policy measures were formalised in the Kampala Document on 22 May 1991 when eight African leaders and 300 delegates from all over Africa met in the Ugandan capital.
The South African delegation at the Kampala conference included Mr Alfred Nzo, the then Secretary-General of the ANC, as well as Dr Van Zyl Slabbert and Mr Colin Eglin.
The conference in Abuja will examine practical ways of deepening and advancing the support base for a CSSDCA process by African Governments and the determination of a definite time frame for implementation of a CSSDCA process.
The South African government welcomes the strengthening of this established initiative and will actively participate in its work also with the view to promoting the African Renaissance.
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
Pretoria
27 AUGUST 1999