Global Policy Forum

President Thabo Mbeki made an eloquent call on Friday for the Iraq question to be resolved peacefully through the United Nations, and not through war.

Writing in the African National Congress's on-line publication "ANC Today," under the headline "The promise of a world free of war," Mbeki said the Iraq issue was more than a decade old, and concerned the United Nations Security Council's decision that Iraq should be disarmed of all nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction. Some countries have charged that Iraq has failed to disarm as required, and so the Security Council adopted a new resolution, providing for the current "thoroughgoing weapons inspection process".

Mbeki said it had also been argued that Iraq could only be disarmed by force, and "some governments have stated their readiness to go to war against Iraq, with the additional aim of changing the government of that country."

In regard to the prospect of war Mbeki said: "Our movement (the ANC) is keenly interested that the objective of the destruction of any weapons of mass destruction that Iraq might have should be achieved. "We are also firmly of the belief that Iraq should respect and implement the decisions of the Security Council, including the latest resolution of the Council. "At the same time, we are convinced that these results can, and should, be achieved by peaceful means." Mbeki said the Iraqi government "has assured us that it agrees with the positions we have taken".

Iraq had co-operated with the inspectors, and was not "in serious material breach" of the resolution.

South Africa had urged important global players not to go to war. "The effort to eradicate any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq should not be used to justify the declaration of war. Rather, this effort should target the elimination of these weapons, precisely to eliminate the necessity to go to war. The inspectors must be allowed to do their work." The ANC had been opposed to the use of weapons of mass destruction since the 1950s. "As we approached our liberation, the apartheid regime admitted that it had... weapons of mass destruction." Determined that an ANC government should not have these weapons, the National Party had given them up.

Mbeki said the ANC "has, from its inception, taken the stand that it is committed to the resolution of all disputes by peaceful means. Accordingly, we welcomed the formation of the United Nations.

"We welcomed the birth of the UN in part because it gave the promise of a world free of war. We cannot accept that the powerful have a right to use their power either to marginalise the UN or disempower it, to facilitate the pursuit of their war aims. "Nor can we agree that the powerful have a right to use the authority of the UN and its prestige as a peace agency, to legitimise a pre-determined decision to wage war.

"This situation demands that we intensify the struggle for the strengthening of the multilateral system of governance. The UN is at the centre of this system, and is the only guarantee that the voice of the weak, such as ours, can be heard."

War against Iraq would threaten international peace and security, create instability in the Middle East and elsewhere, and would postpone further the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Mbeki said.

The inevitable sharp increase in oil prices "would condemn Africa to a deep economic crisis. It would put paid to all the high hopes raised by the Nepad initiative and the formation of the African Union."

Mbeki said South Africans had an interest in the peaceful resolution of the Iraq question, and "an obligation to stand up and join the struggle for peace. "The situation demands that once more, the masses of our people must act together as a powerful force for peace in the world. The voice of the people must be heard," Mbeki concluded.

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