SA Foreign Policy About To Hit Bottom

Farrel — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 07:55:00 -0400

South Africa has blamed Britain for the deepening crisis in Zimbabwe by accusing the United Kingdom of leading a campaign to “strangle” the beleaguered African state’s economy and saying it has a “death wish” against a negotiated settlement that might leave Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF in power.

According to a South African government document circulating among diplomats ahead of a Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit this week, President Thabo Mbeki will paint an optimistic picture of his efforts to broker an agreement between Mugabe and the Zimbabwean opposition.

And then Foreign Minister Nkosasana Dlamini-Zuma will keep digging:

“South Africa is a signatory to many UN conventions. We cannot impose a refugee status on people who do not want to be refugees. We will be doing that if we set up a refugee camp… and that will be against the UN regulation,” Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nquakula said in a televised interview.

She described most Zimbabweans who illegally enter the country as “economic migrants” who had no intention of settling but wanted only to buy food.

And pray tell how many ‘asylum seekers’ have applied for visas to SA at our embassy in Harare? Of course why apply at all when the border is wide open anyway.

Politics.za: SA Foreign Policy About To Hit Bottom

SA Foreign Policy About To Hit Bottom