South Africa Pressed by U.K. to Recall Apartheid Fight, Free Libya Assets
U.K. Defense Secretary Liam Fox said South Africa should remember the fight against apartheid and “stand with the Libyan people” by agreeing to unfreeze $1.5 billion of Libya’s assets to help the rebels who have taken control of most of Tripoli.
Fox said South Africa, which yesterday blocked a U.S. proposal to release Libyan assets that were frozen by the United Nations to starve Muammar Qaddafi of resources, will face “huge moral pressure” to change its position.
“South Africa, according to its government, is worried about taking sides. It’s very clear what side the Libyan people are on and that’s what the South Africans should respond to,” Fox told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” show. “They wanted the world at one point to stand with them against apartheid, they now need to stand with the Libyan people.”
The U.S. yesterday asked the UN Security Council for permission to release the assets to help the rebels’ National Transitional Council deliver aid and basic services to the war- torn nation. The UN body has scheduled a vote on the proposal for 3 p.m. today in New York. South Africa, a Security Council member, doesn’t want the full $1.5 billion released before the African Union recognizes the rebels as Libya’s government.
Resolution ‘Abused’
“The situation in Libya has been of concern as it has been accompanied by the undermining of the African continent’s role in finding a solution,” South African President Jacob Zuma told reporters in Cape Town Aug. 23. “It remains our view that the United Nations Security Council resolution 1973 has been abused to further interests other than to protect civilians and assist the civilian people.”
Zuma’s administration reiterated that stance today.
The South African government will always approach this matter in concert with the African Union and in the spirit of multilateralism,” Cabinet spokesman Jimmy Manyi told reporters in Pretoria. “The government of South Africa condemns any form of violence and the doctrine of imposed regime change.”
Fox, who said the South African position was “disappointing,” is a close political ally of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who refused to back sanctions against South Africa’s apartheid regime in the 1980s, preferring a policy of “constructive engagement.”
Prime Minister David Cameron wrote in 2006 that Thatcher had made “mistakes” over sanctions and her relations with the African National Congress, which led the struggle against apartheid and is now in government in South Africa.
Qaddafi was a supporter of the ANC in its fight against apartheid, and South African President Nelson Mandela visited Libya while it was under international sanctions in 1997.
To contact the reporters on this story: Thomas Penny in London at tpenny@bloomberg.net; Mike Cohen in Cape Town at mcohen21@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net
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