Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu has expressed his deep disappointment at South Africa’s vote to block a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an end to human rights abuses in Burma, saying it was a betrayal of his country’s ”noble past”.
The retired South African archbishop urged the Security Council to take action against the military regime of the South-east Asian country, in a 2005 report written with fellow Nobel laureate and former Czech President Vaclav Havel.
”I am deeply disappointed by our vote. It is a betrayal of our own noble past. Many in the international community can hardly believe it. It is inexplicable,” Tutu said in an e-mail no Saturday to the Associated Press.
In its first vote since it secured a non-permanent seat on the Security Council last year, South Africa joined China and Russia in opposing the resolution proposed by the United States and backed by Britain and France.
The vote in the Security Council on January 12 was nine to three in favour of the resolution, with three abstentions. However, China and Russia cast a rare double veto, which blocked the resolution’s passage.
South Africa does not have veto power.
Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said in a statement that while South Africa was ”deeply concerned at the situation in Myanmar [Burma],” the country’s vote against the resolution had been technical.
He said Myanmar did not pose a threat to international peace and security and was a matter best left to the UN Human Rights Council.
Tutu, who turned 75 last year, presided over South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which heard harrowing testimony about atrocities committed under apartheid.
Regarded as the conscience of South Africa, he has continued to speak up on issues ranging from crime to HIV/Aids to the war in Iraq and has not shied away from criticising leaders of the ruling African National Congress.
”If others had used the arguments we are using today when we asked them for their support against apartheid, we might still have been unfree,” he said in the e-mail.
Tutu also expressed concern at the reaction to the vote, which has been hailed by Burma regime as a victory.
”The tyrannical military regime is gloating, and we sided with them,” he said.
The opposition Democratic Alliance, also condemned South Africa for its vote, saying it did not bode well for the country’s tenure on the council.
”The fact remains that after fighting for two years to secure a non-permanent seat on the Security Council, the very first opportunity South Africa had to vote in favour of human rights and good governance and against dictatorship, we chose the wrong side,” lawmaker Douglas Gibson said in a statement.
”We also chose to contradict our own Nobel Peace laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who has been at the forefront of the campaign for human rights in Burma.” – Sapa-AP