Cape Town | Thursday
SOUTH African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma called on Wednesday for the UN Security Council to be restructured, and issued an implicit call for it to be involved in any riposte to the terror attacks in the United States.
“Whatever definitions and conventions — whether they be about terrorism, or something else that involves our collective security — it would be important for the UN to be seized with that matter,” Dlamini-Zuma said.
She told the National Assembly’s foreign affairs committee it was important not to forget “that the agent of our collective security in the world is the United Nations’ Security Council.”
The minister went on: “That institution (the Security Council) as it is constituted now, does not reflect the world. It was formed at a particular time to address a particular era.”
“We are in a different era. That era demands that institution must be reformed and transformed,” Dlamini-Zuma said, adding that the council as it stood was “an impediment to be a true agent of security internationally”.
She warned that changing the Security Council would not be easy, because of the veto powers of the security council’s five permanent members — Britain China, France, Russia, and the United States.
“So it become a vicious cycle, but it is very important, because at the moment the countries that really have clout in the Security Council are the developed countries,” she said.
“It is in a way, an institution of the powerful. It is supposed to protect all of us, but you can see the way sanctions are used, they are a tool of the powerful.” Meanwhile, in other diplomatic dealings, the imam of Al-Azhar, the highest authority in Sunni Islam, told British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in the Egyptian capital on Wednesday that countries which shelter terrorists are “criminal.” The remarks by Sheikh Mohammad Sayyed Tantawi amounted to veiled criticism because Egypt has repeatedly accused Britain of sheltering Egyptians convicted here of Islamic militant violence.
The British embassy said Straw’s meeting with Tantawi would serve to reiterate British concerns that the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States “should not create a rift between Islam and the West.”
“The state which protects a criminal who is condemned to death is a criminal and hypocritical state,” Tantawi told Straw while greeting him upon his arrival in Cairo from Tel Aviv.
“Islam is at war with terrorism, and all those which open their doors to terrorism and which protect terrorism are criminals, just as the terrorists are,” the imam said.
The imam of Al-Azhar, whose opinions have influence on hundreds of thousands of Sunni Muslims around the world, is appointed by Mubarak and represents a moderate trend in Islam.
Britain has granted asylum to several Islamic militants condemned by Egyptian courts.
These include Yasser al-Serri and Adel Abdel Meguid Abdel Bari, who were sentenced in 1999 to jail for life with forced labour for belonging to the Egyptian Jihad.
Straw, whose smile faded upon hearing a translation of the remarks, said afterward that “I listened with care to the position of your faith,” and how it deals with the problem of terrorists and countries which shelter them.
While serving as Britain’s Home Secretary, Straw recalled, he introduced tough anti-terrorist legislation and, in addition to 14 Irish militant groups, he banned 21 radical organizations, including those from the Middle East.
In an interview Saturday in the French newspaper Le Figaro, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak also criticised Britain’s asylum policies.
Questioned about the Islamic terrorist networks believed to be operating in Britain, Mubarak said: “I warned (former prime minister) John Major but he did not listen.
“I sent a message to (incumbent Prime Minister) Tony Blair recommending him to be careful. France took notice. But certain European capitals are becoming veritable terrorist production plants.”
The British embassy said Tuesday that besides working to avoid a religious rift, Straw “will also make it clear that the British government will not tolerate attacks by any individuals against Muslims in Britain.”
Muslims living in Britain and the United States have been attacked since Islamic militants hijacked airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington on September 11. – AFP