A determined and united effort is needed by world leaders to stop fighting across the world, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday.
He was receiving the credentials of new diplomatic envoys from Iceland, Malawi, Canada, Belgium, South Korea and France at a ceremony at the presidential guesthouse in Pretoria.
Iceland’s new ambassador, Sigriour Kristmundsdottir, congratulated South Africa on taking up a seat on the United Nations Security Council. ”I express my heartfelt conviction that your recent experience in turning oppression into liberty is invaluable in that most important conclave of world affairs,” she said.
Mbeki responded that it is indeed a challenge and that the killing of people requires a ”determined and united” effort at the UN.
South Africa takes up a two-year non-permanent seat on the Security Council in January.
Belgium, which takes a non-permanent seat on the Security Council in 2008, promised to work closely with South Africa. ”Both our countries are fully committed to the Great Lakes Region, a crucial area for African progress,” Belgium’s new ambassador to South Africa, Jan Mutton, said.
Mbeki said he hopes Belgium — former colonial master of the Democratic Republic of the Congo — will continue to work with South Africa in the post-election development of that country.
South Korea’s new ambassador, Kim Kyun-seop, also called for closer cooperation on the international stage, saying the election of Ban Ki-moon, a South Korean, as the new UN secretary general will ease cooperation.
Although France congratulated South Africa’s peace efforts on the continent, including Côte d’Ivoire, its new ambassador, Denis Pietton, noted that the countries do not always agree on the best way to achieve this.
”Not that we necessarily share the same views on every topic, but we have come to appreciate the value of each other’s positions in the arena of world politics,” he said.
On a lighter note, Mbeki joked with Malawi’s new high commissioner to South Africa, Agrina Mussa, that he will support that country’s soccer team to win the 2010 Soccer World Cup. ”They will win it for us to ensure that the cup stays on the African continent,” he said.
Mussa said Malawi is looking for ways to benefit economically from the World Cup.
Mbeki also welcomed Canada’s new high commissioner, Ruth Archibald, only days before the country’s new Governor General, Michaëlle Jean, is due in South Africa on an official visit. — Sapa