Article: President Mbeki Concludes U.S. Visit with Sense of Encouragement

28 June 2001

Article: President Mbeki Concludes U.S. Visit with Sense of Encouragement

Heard Bush reaffirm U.S.-S. African relations

By Jim Fisher-Thompson
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- South African President Thabo Mbeki concluded a three-day working visit here June 27 saying he was encouraged by the reception he received from President Bush, other top government officials and business representatives whom he hopes will help revive his nation's flagging economy.

Before leaving for a visit to Germany where he plans to promote an economic plan of action aimed at attracting investment to sub-Saharan Africa, Mbeki told a National Press Club (NPC) luncheon that he felt he had achieved his main goal in visiting the nation's capital. The president shared the dais at the event with South African Ambassador Sheila Sisulu.

In meetings he had at the White House with President Bush and with Secretary of State Colin Powell, Mbeki said they explored "what the U.S. might do to help us meet" the many economic challenges facing South Africa. And he added that his delegation was "very encouraged indeed" by the U.S. response.

Both Bush and Powell, Mbeki said, reaffirmed the close relationship between the United States and South Africa and he added that, "I am leaving the country this afternoon encouraged and strengthened by the knowledge" that issues important to South Africa, like poverty reduction, are understood and appreciated by the U.S. leadership.

Mbeki also mentioned the dinner held in his honor June 26 by the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), the business association whose 220 member corporations seek investment opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa and whose Chairman, Maurice Tempelsman, has long done business on the continent.

Tempelsman attended the NPC luncheon sitting at the same table with Ben Bradlee, former managing editor of the Washington Post who presided over the newspaper's coverage of the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

Mbeki stressed that his country needed U.S. investor support and assistance to help right the economic inequalities that are the legacy of apartheid and which after seven years of multi-party democracy still threaten every facet of South African life, including healthcare. On that score he noted that the HIV/AIDS pandemic had socio-economic roots that could not be ignored.

Asked if he still questioned the widely accepted belief among doctors and scientists that the HIV virus is the main cause of the fatal disease AIDS -- a position that mired him in controversy last year -- Mbeki said he believed that there were a number of contributing factors that lead to the infection and that any proper treatment plan had to have a multi-faceted approach. "We've got to respond in a comprehensive manner" that takes into account other diseases that affect the immune system like tuberculosis, he indicated.

Mentioning a hurried trip he made to Philadelphia to visit the pharmaceutical company Merck, a leading manufacturer of anti-viral drugs, Mbeki said he was encouraged at the news from Merck executives of a potential AIDS vaccine currently under study by the company.

Turning to other topics, Mbeki responded to a question about "rampant crime" in South Africa, particularly in Johannesburg, saying it was "a matter clearly of concern" to his government and all South Africans. He said, "we've strengthened law enforcement agencies," which earlier were mainly concerned with protecting the apartheid system of racial separation. The government has also launched a development scheme in Alexander township, near Johannesburg, he said, which seeks to upgrade housing and economic conditions, the lack of which can be tied to increased crime rates in the country.

Another area of concern is Zimbabwe because "its internal collapse" could only adversely affect South Africa, its close neighbor and economic partner, Mbeki said. And such a possibility exists as President Robert Mugabe continues to use a land distribution controversy as a reason to pit whites against blacks for political gain.

Mbeki said, "I've spoken twice in the presence of President Mugabe in Zimbabwe about the situation." The points he said he made were that "violence is wrong" and "the absence of rule of law is wrong."

Acknowledging that "the land question is urgent," Mbeki emphasized, however, that "it must be addressed legally." He said he hoped an upcoming meeting of seven African foreign ministers to discuss the Zimbabwe situation would lead to a peaceful resolution to the problem.

Asked about another area of conflict near his country -- the ongoing civil war in Angola -- Mbeki said, "we have been in touch with UNITA and are encouraging them to return" to the Lusaka peace process.

Mbeki brought up the question of political leadership in general as he pointed out that there is "a pool of leaders in Africa who say we cannot continue to sustain the image of Africa as a continent of conflict, wars, refugees, military governments, dictatorships, and abuse of human rights."

In order "to change the lives of people for the better," Mbeki said African leaders had to address important issues like corruption but with the assistance of people from outside the continent.

To his American audience he said, "we need your assistance" because "support from this country" is essential to helping Africa "turn the corner to democracy and prosperity."