Abstract
In early 2002, the South African Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) stated: “The current most important issues with regard to the Central African Region are conflict resolution, promotion of peace and stability and good governance and economic reconstruction and development. In this regard, the specific challenges facing South Africa are to assist in the resolution of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) through the comprehensive implementation of the Lusaka. Cease-fire Agreement.” The DFA further asserted that other challenges in the DRC “… include the promotion of the values of democracy and good governance and the implementation of sound stable economic policies.” It was upfront in recognizing that “the other main priorities for South Africa are the expansion of its trade and economic relations with the countries of the region.”1
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Notes
The “African Renaissance” can be regarded as an ambitious bid for continental renewal as reflected in a series of political and economic initiatives involving such continental powers as South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Tanzania, Senegal, the OAU, and other partners. The objectives of the African Renaissance are to promote political democratization and stability in Africa and the continent’s reintegration into the global economy. The African Renaissance should therefore be considered as an effort by Africa’s leaders to take responsibility for the continent’s destiny. Such efforts are embodied in the Millennium African Recovery/Renaissance Plan (MAP) and the merging of this particular plan with Senegal president Wade’s “Omega Plan,” which now forms the New Africa Initiative. For a discussion of the African Renaissance, see Francis Kornegay, Chris Landsberg, and Steve McDonald, “Participate in the African Renaissance,” The Washington Quarterly 24, no. 3 (summer 2001).
See Francis Kornegay and Chris Landsberg, “From Dilemma to Détente: Pretoria’s Policy Options on the DRC and Great Lakes,” Centre for Policy Studies: Johannesburg, Policy Brief 11, April 1999.
The SADC Organ on Politics, Defence, and Security was established in 1996 to institutionalize cooperative security in the region. The idea was to integrate further military and human security and promote democratization. While South Africa’s president Nelson Mandela served as chairperson of SADC, Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe was elected the chair of the organ. All this was an attempt to balance power in the region. The two leaders have long disagreed on the purpose, function, and operation of the organ Mandela even threatened to resign over the schism. For a discussion, see Willie Breytenbach, “The Failure of Security Co-Operation in SADC: The Suspension of the Organ for Politics, Defence and Security” South African Journal of International Affairs 7, no. 1 (summer 2000). Also see Chris Landsberg and Mwesiga Baregu, eds., From Cape to Congo: Southern Africa’s Evolving Security Architecture (Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner Publishers, 2002), forthcoming.
See Steven Friedman, Claude Kabemba, Chris Landsberg, Maxine Reitzes, and Zondi Masiza, “State of Anxiety? Reconstructing the State, Democratization, and Economic Growth in Southern Africa” (unpublished paper, Centre for Policy Studies, Johannesburg, April 1999), 54.
Ibid. For a further official view of this strategy, see Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad, “South Africa and Conflict Resolution in Africa” [Address delivered at the conference on the launch of the South African chapter of the African Renaissance (SACAR), Kempton Park, 7–9 April 2000].
Francis Kornegay, “Recasting South Africa’s Regional and Global Role for the 21st Century” (unpublished paper prepared for the United Nations Development Programme in South Africa, July 1999), 3.
Francis A. Kornegay and Chris Landsberg, “Mayivuke iAfrika: Can South Africa lead an African Renaissance?” Centre for Policy Studies: Johannesburg, Policy Issues ad Actors (PIA) 11, no. 1 (January 1998): 36.
Kornegay and Landsberg, “Mayivuke iAfrika: Can South Africa lead an African Renaissance?”
Centre for Policy Studies, Johannesburg, Socio-Political Monitor (unpublished internal publication, June 1999).
N. Dlamini-Zuma, Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Africa, Foreign Affairs Budget Vote Speech (National Assembly, Cape Town, 14 March 2000).
Claude Kabemba, “Central Africa. A Review,” Central Africa; A Review, South African Yearbook of International Affairs, 2001–02 (Braamfontein: South African Institute of International Affairs, 2002), 273.
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© 2002 John F. Clark
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Landsberg, C. (2002). The Impossible Neutrality?. In: Clark, J.F. (eds) The African Stakes of the Congo War. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403982445_10
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