South Africa 'depends on a peaceful, stable and prosperous Africa' - Ramaphosa

The president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, considered today, in parliament, that the country's economic development depends on peace and stability in the continent, namely in northern Mozambique.

"We depend on a peaceful, stable and prosperous Africa to promote our development", said the South African head of state.

In his speech, which culminated the parliamentary debate on the state of the nation presented last Thursday, Ramaphosa pointed in that direction to the two-year mandate assumed by South Africa in April last year as a member of the Peace and Security Council of the Union African (AU).

President Ramaphosa, who is chairing a meeting of the council on Friday in Addis Ababa, stressed that through its "participation in the Peace and Security Council, South Africa is working with other countries to bring peace to areas of conflict on the continent, such as the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, the Sahel region and northern Mozambique".

Ramaphosa, who in the state of the nation highlighted armed violence in his own country as one of his executive's main challenges in the governance of post-apartheid democratic South Africa, underlined that in October last year Pretoria "played a role in facilitating successful peace talks between the government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People's Liberation Front, facilitated by the African Union".

"We will continue to provide all possible assistance for conflict resolution and peacekeeping on the continent", said the South African President, adding that the "recent experience of the covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated the value of a united response to common challenges ".

"We said in last week's State of the Nation address that South Africa's fortunes are inextricably linked to those of our continent," he underlined.