Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
27 November 2001
The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Aziz Pahad has expressed shock and sadness at the death late last week of five Palestinian boys in an explosion in the Gaza Strip, allegedly caused by a booby trap. He said that the South African Government has followed subsequent events in the Middle East with concern.
The South African Government also reiterates its condemnation of the Israeli policy of extra-judicial killings, which claimed yet another victim last Friday and which sparked a new round of violence during which more innocent civilian lives were lost and more of the Palestinian infrastructure destroyed. The South African Government also reiterates its condemnation of suicide bomb attacks, in the wake of such an attack at the Erez Crossing Point on Monday.
The deputy minister expressed the South African Governments support for the current mission by US Assistant Secretary of State William Burns and Gen. Anthony Zinni aimed at achieving a firm and sustained cease-fire. The South African Government calls on both the Israeli Government and the Palestinian National Authority to engage fully, in good faith, as equal partners, in these efforts to bring an end to violence in the region.
It is against this background that the South African Department of Foreign Affairs, the United Nations Information Centre and the Embassy of Palestine are preparing to commemorate the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People by way of a public ceremony in Pretoria on 29 November 2001. Statements on behalf of Presidents Mbeki and Arafat as well as the UN Secretary-General will be read out. Guest speakers include H.E. Mr Yasser Abed-Rabbo, Palestinian Minister of Information and Culture and Mr Francis Okelo, UN Deputy Special Co-ordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.
Yasser Abed-Rabbo headed the Final Status Negotiations with Israel on behalf of the Palestinian side. He holds the portfolios of Information and Culture in the PNA and is head of the PNA’s Committee for Education, Culture and Science. He has acted as head of the PLO Department of Information and Culture since 1973.
Mr Francis Okelo spent three years in the Ugandan Foreign Service and at their Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, joined the UN Secretariat in May 1973. In 1979 he was appointed as Uganda’s Ambassador to the then EEC and from 1985 as High Commissioner in Kenya. He rejoined the UN Secretariat in 1989 and served in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sierra Leone before being appointed in the Middle East.
For further information contact Ronnie Mamoepa at 082 990 4853