TUESDAY, 3.30PM
UNITED Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan will not meet President Nelson Mandela on Friday, the president’s office said on Tuesday. Mandela’s office announced the meeting on Monday and Mandela confirmed it on Tuesday, despite a denial issued on Monday night by the United Nations.
Mandela’s spokesman Parks Mankahlana said that in telephonic discussions with Mandela on East Timorese peace initiatives on Monday night, Annan had actually said his representative on East Timor, Jamsheet Marker, will come to SA to continue talks with Mandela. Mankahlana said no date for the meeting had been confirmed, but that it might take place towards the end of the week.
Marker is chairing UN-sponsored talks in New York on East Timor to resolve the dispute over the former Portuguese colony.
Meanwhile, Mandela said on Tuesday that relations between SA and Portugal remain sound despite the weekend expulsion of the Portuguese amabassador to SA.
He said in Pretoria he had been in contact with Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio over the incident. “Our relations remain sound,” Mandela said after meeting members of the International Olympic Committee. “If there are any differences and reservations they relate only to the particular official.”
TUESDAY, 8.30AM
THE Portuguese government has “vigorously deplored” the expulsion of their South African ambassador, in a protest delivered to the South African embassy in Lisbon.