BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

15/07/2007

DA concerned by SA-Belarus relations

The Democratic Alliance has voiced its concern at South Africa's deepening of ties with "rights-delinquent" countries like Belarus.

"This is happening at the very time when major world entities have focused their attention on the need for protection of human rights and the isolation of offenders," said DA foreign affairs spokesperson Tony Leon.

Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma recently visited Belarus where she launched an Intergovernmental Committee on Trade and Economic Co-operation to probe areas of co-operation between the countries, he said.

This amid European Union-imposed sanctions on Belarus and a travel ban on its top officials as a result of its political situation.

Leon said Belarus was not a peaceful and stable democracy. There had been claims of irregularities in its 2006 election and the leader of the opposition had been jailed for five-years for organising a post-election protest.

The SA government's claim that it forged ties with Belarus in the struggle against apartheid was a "lamentable excuse for flying the South African flag of friendship over such a benighted state," he said.

"This explanation is frankly, risible, irrelevant, a historic and inaccurate. It is high time South Africa yielded to more democratically inspired and appropriate imperatives." - Sapa

Source:

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20070715152812781C179080

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