Pretoria - The South African government says it is disappointed that the G8 meeting failed to agree on all aspects pertaining to the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Syria.
Addressing media in Pretoria on Friday, International Relations and Cooperation Deputy Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim said South Africa was concerned that any delay in the proposed negotiations in Geneva will have severe consequences for the prospects of achieving peace in Syria.
He said Pretoria cannot agree with the precondition that negotiations are not possible until President Assad steps down.
Making an example of South Africa’s own conflict before 1994, which stretched over a much longer period, Ebrahim said representatives of the apartheid regime were not excluded from the negotiations that led to a democratic settlement in South Africa.
“We therefore cannot agree with the position taken by some sectors of the opposition who are refusing to negotiate by using President al-Assad as an excuse. We have delivered the same message to the Syrian government that negotiations should commence without preconditions.”
In a final communique after two days of intense talks, G8 leaders called for peace talks to be held as soon as possible to resolve the Syrian crisis. The leaders discussed a negotiated Syrian peace settlement, but failed to agree on whether this meant President Bashar Assad must go.
The deputy minister reaffirmed that it was essential that a political path be supported by a united, cohesive international effort towards a Syrian-led negotiated political transition aimed at establishing a democratic pluralistic society in which minorities are protected.
“The South African government reiterates that there can be no military solution to the conflict in Syria and that the only hope for the Syrian people lies in the willingness of all the parties to the conflict to immediately put an end to the violence and start engaging each other constructively with the aim of reaching an agreement on a political transition based on the Geneva Communiqué of June 2012,” said Ebrahim.
South Africa futher rejected any calls for regime change and external military interference or any action not in line with the Charter of the United Nations.
“South Africa remains concerned about the continuing militarisation of the conflict in Syria and notes, with concern, the decision by the United States to arm the Syrian Free Army.”
Pretoria further condemned all human rights abuses; in particular violations of the rights of vulnerable groups, such as women and children, saying it is deeply concerned.
Over 93 000 Syrian people have died and hundreds displaced since the start of the conflict in March 2011. - SAnews.gov.za
