South Africa believes that no political ambition could justify the current cycle of violence in Kenya, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a regular media briefing at the Union Buildings, Pahad called on Kenyan political parties to rise above ”narrow political interests” and settle the conflict through dialogue.
”We do seriously believe that if this violence is not brought to an early end, that we’ll reach a very serious crisis and that indeed that it will take dimensions way beyond of just a political problem, and that it will begin to take dimensions of an ethnic and tribal conflict, that would be disastrous,” Pahad said.
”The South Africa government is seriously concerned about the continuing escalation of violence,” he said.
South Africa fully supports calls by former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan for an investigation into human rights abuses in Kenya and believes that those responsible should be held to account.
Pahad added that South Africa will continue to support Annan’s mediation efforts.
Agence France-Presse reports that the process of negotiations between Kenya’s feuding political factions was to be officially launched on Tuesday.
President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga have been at loggerheads since the December 27 elections.
Odinga accuses the incumbent of rigging his way to re-election and international observers have also voiced concern over widespread irregularities in the election’s vote-tallying process.
The dispute sparked a wave of nationwide violence that has already left close to 1 000 people dead. The crisis threatened to spiral further out of control following the murder early on Tuesday of an opposition MP. — Sapa