5 June 2018
Your Excellency, President Brahim Ghali,
Honourable Ministers,
Ambassadors,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Members of the Media,
Good day to you all.
Allow me, Your Excellency, to once again welcome you to South Africa.
Even though our respective countries are located on the extreme ends of our Continent, we are brought together by an unbreakable bond that were forged during our common fight against colonialism and apartheid.
We are also brought together by a shared vision of a better Africa and a better world.
We wish to assure you once again of our unwavering support for the inalienable right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination and independence.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have just concluded productive discussions, underpinned by the strong friendship and solidarity between our two countries and peoples.
In this regard, we have agreed to deepen our relations and strengthen cooperation across a number of fields.
In our discussions, we reflected on a number of areas of bilateral cooperation, including the Memorandum of Understanding on Technical and Humanitarian Assistance.
This Memorandum provides for humanitarian assistance from South Africa to assist the people of Western Sahara in refugee camps.
We believe that the protracted humanitarian crisis in the refugee camps is a direct consequence of the delay in finding a lasting solution to the conflict in Western Sahara.
The lack of a solution is also an impediment towards greater regional integration and security cooperation in the Maghreb region.
In our discussions, we expressed our full support and confidence in the efforts undertaken by the UN Secretary General’s Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Mr Horst Köhler, to bring the parties together and mobilise the international community to implement all UN resolutions on Western Sahara, including the recently adopted UN Security Council Resolution 2414.
Similarly, we have expressed our full support and confidence in the efforts undertaken by the African Union Special Envoy for Western Sahara, former President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique.
We are fully committed to a speedy implementation of the resolution of the 30th AU Summit in January 2018 calling on the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic and the Kingdom of Morocco to engage without preconditions in direct and serious talks to put an end to their conflict.
We also discussed regional, continental and international peace and security challenges.
We condemned in the strongest possible terms all forms of terrorism and extremism affecting some of our sister countries.
We have committed ourselves to playing our part in resolving the peace and security challenges on the continent.
We reiterated the need for the reform of multilateral institutions, including the UN Security Council, to better represent the interests of the global South and Africa in particular.
Mr President,
The triumph of the South African people over apartheid demonstrates that no system, no matter how oppressive, can forever deny the desire of a people to be free.
We are certain that the people of Western Sahara will soon be free.
Our liberation, and the liberation of our continent, will not be complete without the liberation of Western Sahara.
I therefore wish to reiterate our solidarity with the Saharawi people in their struggle for self-determination and independence.
We are extremely happy with the outcome of our discussions.
Let me thank you, Your Excellency, for honouring us with your visit.
I wish you a pleasant journey back home and extend our warm fraternal greetings to all the Saharawi people.
I thank you. (SPS)
Etiqueta: #UniónAfricana
Opening Remarks by President Cyril Ramaphosa during the Working Visit of President Brahim Ghali of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, Union Buildings, Pretoria | Sahara Press Service
5 June 2018
Your Excellency and Dear Brother, President Brahim Ghali,
Honourable Ministers,
Your Excellency, Mr Bachir Sgair, Ambassador of SADR to South Africa,
Your Excellency, Mr D Dlomo, South African Ambassador to SADR,
Senior officials from our respective Governments,
Members of the Media,
Good morning,
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you, Mr President, and your delegation on the occasion of your working visit to South Africa.
We believe that through this visit, the historical and fraternal relations that happily exist between our two governments and peoples will be further strengthened.
Your visit is very special to us as it represents a continuation of our excellent cooperation and the deepening of our diplomatic bilateral relations.
Your visit coincides with the celebration of Youth Month in our country.
In South Africa, the month of June is dedicated to the youth of our country in recognition for their selfless contribution to the freedom and democracy that we enjoy today.
We know that the youth in your country are also engaged in a struggle for freedom and justice.
Mr President, you visit us during a year when we are marking the centenary of the births of two of our iconic elders, the late President Nelson Mandela and Mama Albertina Sisulu.
This year we are celebrating the lives of these two great Africans who believed that the freedom of the South African people could not be separated from the freedom of all people, both on our continent and beyond.
When the people of Western Sahara and South Africa meet it is a gathering of one people.
Our freedom and your freedom are indivisible.
We share a common history of struggle for freedom and justice. (SPS)
062/SPS/Presidency SA
Ramaphosa condemns humanitarian crisis in Western Sahara | Sahara Press Service
BY DENIS BEDOYA ON JUNE 7, 2018
Johannesburg – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday said the protracted humanitarian crisis in Western Sahara’s refugee camps was a direct consequence of the delay in finding a lasting solution to the conflict in the North Africa region.
Ramaphosa’s comments follow his bilateral meeting with Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic President Brahim Ghali in Pretoria. Ghali is in the country on a working visit.
Upon concluding their meeting, Ramaphosa said a memorandum signed between the two African countries regarding the current conflict and humanitarian crisis provides his country with an opportunity to assist the people of Western Sahara, particularly those who continue to struggle in refugee camps.
“The lack of a solution is also an impediment towards greater regional integration and security cooperation in the Maghreb region,” Ramaphosa said in a statement adding “in our discussions, we expressed our full support and confidence in the efforts undertaken by the UN Secretary General’s Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Mr Horst Köhler, to bring the parties together and mobilise the international community to implement all UN resolutions on Western Sahara.”
These resolutions were recently adopted in the UN Security Council 2414 programme.
Ramaphosa further highlighted that SA had also vowed its full support and has confidence in the efforts undertaken by the African Union Special Envoy for Western Sahara, former President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique.
On regional, continental and international peace matters; Ramaphosa said they “condemned in the strongest possible terms all forms of terrorism and extremism affecting some of our sister countries.”
“We have committed ourselves to playing our part in resolving the peace and security challenges on the continent,” he said.
The countries have also undertaken to continue deepening their relations and strengthen cooperation on all platforms. (SPS)
062/SPS/infosurhoy
a través de Ramaphosa condemns humanitarian crisis in Western Sahara | Sahara Press Service
President of Republic receives reply message from his Tanzanian counterpart — Sahara Press Service
Bir-Lehlou, June 9, 2018 (SPS) – President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, received a reply message from President of the United Republic of Tanzania, H.E. 189 palabras más
a través de President of Republic receives reply message from his Tanzanian counterpart — Sahara Press Service