Algerian, South African FMs press conference: Bilateral relations, Africa’s unity, Russian-Ukrainian war, China-US crisis, Zionists’ plot to sneak into AU tackled – Video

By : Hana Saada

ALGIERS- South Africa’s Minister of International Relations, Dr. Naledi Pandor received, in Pretoria, her Algerian counterpart, Ramtane Lamamra to discuss the privileged relations between these two allied countries, and a future visit by the South African president to Algeria.

The bonds of brotherhood and solidarity uniting both countries were hailed by the South African minister who referred to “a special relationship”. She reiterated that the two countries share “a strong history. “During the apartheid era, Algiers had supported the ANC in its struggle and even welcomed Nelson Mandela for military training. Mandela has a strong relationship with the late President Ahmed Ben bella” the South African FM recalled.

During a press conference, co-chaired by both countries’ FMs, the two ministers called on Ukraine and Russia to agree to the talks facilitated by the United Nations to bring an end to the war that has raged on for almost a year now.

“We fully share the point of view according to which there is a need for a speedy resumption of negotiations that would lead to a balanced, mutually accepted and peaceful solution that would tackle the root causes of the issue so as to bring peace, security and stability to the whole neighborhood, but also to the international scene…. This will help relaunch multilateralism and give more powers to the UN institutions, including UNSC which needs to be reinforced and empowered with the support of all its members, thus enabling it to tackle efficiently and diligently issues of peace and security,” said Mr. Lamamra.

For her part, Mrs. Pandor said: “Our hope always is that the process of diplomacy leading to genuine negotiations would become the focus of the world leaders because we are concerned at the impact of this war between Russia and Ukraine.”

As for the plans of the Zionists to sneak quietly into the African Union as an observer state, the South African PM emphasized that her country “wanted this decision to be reversed”.

“We are very firm in our view that the African Union Charter does not make provision for a country that is in conflict with another country, occupying its territories, to have a status in the African Union as this latter is anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism,” she stressed.

For reference, the tireless efforts exerted by Algeria, alongside South Africa, and their friends to rescind the observer status granted to the Zionist Entity in the African Union (AU), have been crowned with success. The Zionist entity’s observer status in AU has been suspended on the second day of the 35th African Union Summit held in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, under the theme: “Strengthening Food Security: Accelerating the Development of Human, Social and Economic Capital in the African Continent.”

The thorny issue will be tackled at the AU Summit, slated in Addis Ababa. Minister Lamamra hopes “this issue will not divert the continent’s attention away from the pertinent causes”.

Regarding the stability of the African continent, Mr. Lamamra noted that “South Africa and Algeria are able to use their skills and capabilities to push for a better relation”.

“We stand for the unity of our continent. The unity in the African Union lies in our strength… our collective capacity to implement our agenda and influence developments around us in the world, like the questions of international peace and security.”

During the meeting, Mrs. Pandor also raised concerns about the current tension between the US and China. She underlined that tensions between the West and the East “pose a threat to world peace”.

“With reference to the United States and China all of us are familiar with the trade disputes that they have been having. That view that if there is a conflict in China everybody else must join in is a very worrying one.”

She went on to say:” China and the United States are the two largest economies in the world. When they are trading together in a stable manner, all our economies will be stable. But when there is a rift, we will be affected because they are so big.”