South Africa needs to take more assertive action on the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Friday.
This is especially necessary in the light of its election to a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, which should mark a turning point in the country’s foreign policy, he said in his weekly newsletter, published on the DA’s SA Today website.
”Over the next two years, South Africa accordingly cannot afford to continue with a ‘business as usual’ approach to our diplomacy, whereby we have too often put historical ties and a misplaced sense of solidarity ahead of any other concerns.”
President Thabo Mbeki has not been categorical in his condemnation of the unfolding crisis in Sudan — described by the UN itself as a ”man-made catastrophe of an unprecedented scale”.
If South Africa’s presence on the Security Council was going to have any real meaning, it ”must spur us to fresh efforts to resolve this conflict, and — most importantly — to save the lives of thousands of innocent civilians in Darfur”.
Mbeki appears to have deliberately chosen to remain silent on the Darfur conflict, which has all the potential to be even more devastating than the Rwandan genocide.
Leon welcomed a decision earlier this week by the United States to strengthen its sanctions against Sudan.
”This kind of tough action — probably the only language understood by the regime in Khartoum — is precisely what has been lacking in South Africa’s approach to the meltdown in Darfur.
”South Africa must now use the leverage afforded by its presence on the UN Security Council to lobby fellow council members, as well as the African Union, to impose similar sanctions,” he said. — Sapa