STATEMENT OF DEPUTY PRESIDENT THABO MBEKI, AT THE OPENING SESSION OF THE INTER-STATE DEFENCE AND SECURITY COMMITTEE: CAPE TOWN, SEPTEMBER 7, 1995.
Issued by: SA Communication Service
Chairperson, Honourable Ministers, Your Excellencies Ambassadors and High Commissioners, Distinguished delegates, Ladies and gentlemen:
On behalf of our President, Nelson Mandela and our Government of National Unity, I am pleased and honoured to welcome you to Cape Town and to the democratic Republic of South Africa.
You meet in our country for the first time. This affords us the opportunity once more to extend our profound thanks to you, the governments and peoples you represent for the enormous contribution you made to the emancipation of our people from the system of apartheid.
That common victory has made it possible for our region in its entirety and this Committee in particular, to address the two important issues of a common regional security system and our collective contribution to the struggle led by the OAU for peace, stability and development in our continent as a whole.
The countries of our region are tied together by close ties of friendship and solidarity which arise from the fact that among ourselves we share many things, including common languages and cultures and an intertwined history.
We are also linked together economically and therefore cannot but confront together the common challenge of development and prosperity.
Needless to say, these varied ties were immeasurably strengthened by the fact that over the last three decades we joined together in one struggle to end colonialism and apartheid in our region, bringing to a close a period of 500 years of white minority domination in our region and continent.
In a world marked by increased regional cooperation and the institutionalisation of this process, we are therefore well placed ourselves to expand cooperation among ourselves in a conscious and systematic manner to address the shared interests and aspirations of our peoples.
Naturally, of immediate interest to yourselves is the issue of regional cooperation in matters pertaining to defence and security.
But clearly it is common cause among us that the security of our peoples must be defined within the context of their development and prosperity.
This is so because we are all aware that socio-economic degradation leads directly to conflict and violence. In turn, conflict and violence accelerate that degradation, making it impossible to end the stuation in which people kill one another in a struggle for scarce and, in many instances, diminishing resources.
Recognising the fact that within our sub-continent none can be rich while the other is poor, we have therefore already taken the historically important decision that we must and will work together to ensure the balanced economic development of our region, to ensure that all our people share in a common prosperity - that we translate into reality the vision of a better life for all.
Our potential in this regard is very great indeed. This gives hope to the millions of our people that together we will succeed in the war against poverty, deprivation and underdevelopment.
We are indeed very fortunate that we have the Southern African Development Community which is our vanguard organisation in our struggle for regional economic growth and sustainable development.
This coming Monday, we, as South Africans, begin our negotiations with the European Union to conclude a bilateral agreement which will, inter alia, define the economic relations between this country and the EU.
Precisely because of the fact of our interdependence as a region, agreement has already been reached with the EU that these negotiations must also involve the other member states of the SADC so that we enhance the development prospects of our region as a whole.
We trust that this manner of proceeding will further enhance the level of cooperation for balanced regional economic cooperation and development.
As a region, we have also taken the historically important decision to establish the Association of Southern African States.
With its political and diplomatic committee as well as its defence and security committee, the Association will become an effective instrument in our common effort to address the common political and security challenges of our region.
We believe that it is a matter of great importance that we share a common perspective with regard to the establishment of democratic systems of government in our countries.
This enabled our region as a whole to come to the assistance of the people of Lesotho when problems, which seemed to negate the process of democratisation, arose in that sister country.
By this means, our region made the common statement that it shared a common interest in the democratisation of the region as a whole and in the resolution of conflicts within countries by peaceful rather than violent means.
It is in this spirit that the region supported our own efforts to arrive at a negotiated resolution of our conflict with the apartheid system and has since supported the historic peace process in Angola as well as the elections in Mozambique last year.
The Association of Southern African States emerges as a logical outcome of these processes. We believe that, inevitably, it will enhance our common capacity to deal with such issues as:
Beyond our region, we cannot forget that we are members of the OAU and therefore have an obligation to support the efforts of our continental organisation in its own struggle for the security o f the peoples of Africa.
It seems clear to us that, in this regard, if we acted together as a region, we would be able to make a meaningful contribution which would help at least to reduce the level of conflict and the death of many people in civil wars which still afflicts many people on our continent.
Again, your Committee has the possibility to make an important contribution to the specific manner in which we can make this important contribution.
Let me take this opportunity especially to welcome the distinguished delegates from the Republic of Angola, to congratulate them on their outstanding sense of patriotism and self-sacrifice which has set their country on the road to peace, reconciliation and reconstruction.
We wish them success in their historic endeavour and assure them of our full and unqualified support in the struggle for peace and development.
I wish you and your Committee a pleasant stay in this country, for whose liberation you shed your own blood, as well as success in your deliberations, convinced that you will take our peoples yet another step forward towards a shared peace, friendship and a better quality of life. Thank you.