The United States has asked South Africa to close down the Iraqi mission in the country and expel Baghdad’s diplomats in Pretoria, SABC television news reported on Wednesday.
The report said Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma had confirmed that the government has been asked to expel senior Iraqi diplomats and freeze their assets.
”We have received a circular in which the US requests we shut down the Iraqi embassy and expel a certain category of diplomats including the ambassador,” she said.
”The document also requests that the mission remain closed until there is an interim or transitional government.”
The US also requested that frozen assets be released once the new Iraqi government appointed new diplomats.
She said the cabinet would discuss the US request next week and decide whether to fulfil the request. 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 condemned the US-led war against Iraq last week, saying that disarmament of Saddam Hussein’s government could have been achieved peacefully.
The country has maintained that all actions and decisions on Iraq should have carried United Nations sanction. – Sapa