Sharm El Sheikh - South Africa's International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane has called for a unified Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to deal with the challenges facing its members.
"South Africa is of the strong view that our august movement must continue to be better organised, coordinated and coherent," Ms Nkoana-Mashabane told the NAM's preparatory ministerial meeting in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt on Monday.
The Foreign Ministers of the member countries of the NAM will end their two-day preparatory meeting today, ahead of the two-day 15th Summit of NAM leaders scheduled on Wednesday.
Ms Nkoana-Mashabane urged that unity was necessary to effectively deal with the current and immediate crises facing humanity, among other things, food security, the flu pandemic, fuel price increases and the threat of climate change.
"Our struggle to eradicate poverty and hunger cannot be won if the crises stated above are not mitigated and overcome," she said.
Minister Nkoana-Mashabane underlined that the member states must also remain united in all their endeavours to rid the planet of weapons of mass destruction and achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and stop the elicit proliferation of small arms and light weapons.
"A strong revival of the movement on the international scale of a peace movement is vital," she said.
The co-operation between countries of the South will contribute towards the speedy recovery of the world economy, she continued.
"Moreover the crises require us to enhance our political solidarity when addressing the need for the reform of the multilateral architecture," the minister said.
She noted that it was important for the movement to ensure that all multilateral institutions improve their delivery to all the people of the world, especially those living in the South and abject poverty.
She said the summit, which meets on a three-year basis must stand for peace, and human dignity.
South Africa, she said, continues to reaffirm its commitment to the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms and is striving for the strengthening of the mechanism for the protection of, as well as the acknowledgement of, economic, social and cultural rights on par with all other human rights, including the right to development.
The minister further expressed the support of South Africa for the ongoing activities of the Committee on Palestine of the Non-Aligned Movement, which has steadfastly stood in support of the struggle of the Palestinian people for the achievement of their independence and statehood.
"The South African Government and people have consistently demonstrated their support for the rights of the Palestinian people, to a state of their own.
"Our Government has repeatedly called for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in line with the will of the international community, such as expressed by United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242, 338, 465, 681, 1397 and 1515," the minister said.
She said the Government's clear position of support for the establishment of a viable Palestinian State is based on its firm belief that only a realistic two-state solution can bring lasting peace to the Middle East.
The aim is to stop the deterioration of the situation in the region, salvage the political process and realise the vision of peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians, based on the creation of a Palestinian state existing side-by-side in peace with Israel, within secure and internationally recognised borders.
"We remain convinced that negotiations are the only way to end the conflict and to bring about an end to the occupation of the Palestinian and Syrian territories. We therefore call on Israel to abandon all settlement activities," the minister said.
Founded in September 1961, NAM now groups 118 member states, 16 observer countries and nine observer organisations.
The movement, which represents nearly two-thirds of UN member countries and comprises 55 percent of the world population, focuses on striving for interests of developing countries all over the world.
