The United States has not formally asked the South African government to close down the Iraqi embassy or to expel Baghdad’s diplomats, a foreign ministry official said on Monday.
”There have been some informal suggestions made in this regard,” said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity, ”but this has not even been at the level of director or chief director.”
Said the official: ”It is unlikely that the minister (Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma) will respond to suggestions at this level. If a more formal approach were to be made we would probably look at it at a multilateral level.”
But the official added that if there was no support at the United Nations for the closure of embassies and expulsion of diplomats ”I very seriously doubt that we would take any bilateral action.”
The US State Department announced on March 20 that it had formally asked governments worldwide to shut down Iraqi embassies and diplomatic missions in their respective countries until new authorities were in power in Baghdad. South African President Thabo Mbeki last week condemned the war in Iraq, saying that disarmament of Saddam Hussein’s government could have been achieved peacefully.
The country has maintained that all actions in Iraq should have carried UN sanction.
Iraqi Ambassador in Pretoria, Z.M. Al-Omar was unavailable for comment on Monday. – Sapa-AFP