January, 2002

South Africa and its Involvement in Africa

Samia Bibars

Since the fall of the apartheid system in South Africa in 1994 and the country's subsequent democratic progress, South African foreign policy has changed to focus on principles of cooperation and security. South Africa has highlighted the importance of negotiation as a means of solving all political, economic and social problems in the continent. Pretoria has given priority to regional cooperation assuming that an African renaissance is not possible without African aggregations. For South Africa, every region of the continent has a key state that enjoys a unique political and economic position, and thus promotion of trade with different African regions should take place via these key states. Accordingly, Pretoria has spared no effort to counter the problems that Africa is facing on the political, military, security, economic and social levels.

On the political level, South African diplomacy has employed negotiation to settle a number of disputes and conflicts in other African countries. Nelson Mandela assumed a prominent role in bringing the civil war in Burundi to an end. South Africa also played a positive role following violent events in Zimbabwe. Tabo Mbeki immediately visited Zimbabwe to see what aid could be presented to save Zimbabwe from a possible economic collapse. Mbeki agreed to grant Harare a loan of $800 million. In an attempt to put an end to the crisis, a regional summit was held in Harare on 21 April 2000 with the participation of South Africa. Pretoria has always showed adherence to the policy of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) with regard to the civil war in Angola.

Pretoria has asserted that negotiations should not take place without the participation of all concerned parties in Angola, including the UNITA movement. South Africa supported the establishment of a department inside the SADC to prevent and settle disputes in the region. It hosted the Durban conference from 31 August to 7 September 2001, which covered issues including the combating of racism, apartheid and xenophobic tendencies. The Durban conference resulted in an apology from the former colonial countries for their past deeds. African countries also obtained Western promises to support social and economic development programmes, alleviate debt and eliminate poverty. On the military and security levels, Pretoria was in favour of the US initiative to establish a force to intervene in cases of humanitarian distress in the continent, accompanied by the establishment of secure regions for civilians. South Africa advocated that the force should be under the leadership of the United Nations and the Organisation of African Unity. Pretoria also managed to turn the presidency of the military and security department of the SADC from a permanent position to a temporary one.

In the framework of its attempt to consolidate security and stability in the region, Pretoria intervened militarily to topple an imminent military coup in Lesotho in August 1998. Under the umbrella of the SADC, it sent 600 soldiers to suppress the military rebellion and restore stability. Pretoria also participated in the UN mission in the Great Lakes region and supported the African military committee by presenting helicopters and other military equipment.

On the economic and social levels, South Africa sees that Africa will not be able to achieve a renaissance without boosting the role of sub-regional economic aggregations in the framework of its efforts to reduce poverty and attain sustained development.

South Africa initialised the MAP (Millennium African Recovery Programme) in the context of efforts to generate a new role for developing countries in formulating the international agenda and crystallising a new economic world order. The three-year-old initiative was set up by Nigeria, Algeria and Egypt and aims mainly at reforming Africa by means of reducing poverty, achieving sustained development and decreasing marginalisation. The initiative aims to establish a new type of partnership between Africa and the international community, and in particular with the developed industrial countries. It also aims to reshape Africa's relationship with the multilateral monetary institutions on the basis of common responsibilities and interests. MAP priorities include peace, security, augmenting benefits, diversification of production and exports, investment in information and communication technology and other areas of infrastructure, and human development. The initiative includes a programme of action to attain the ambitious goals set by Africa's leaders.

Another development initiative, OMEGA, put forth by Senegal, was combined with MAP to make the New African Initiative. The strategic framework of this initiative and its programme of action were ratified during the 37th African summit, held in Lusaka from 9 to 11 July 2001.