By IANS
Pretoria : South Africa has decried Kenya’s refusal to accept African trade union leader Cyril Ramaphosa on the team of mediators trying to resolve the civil strife in the east African country following the allegedly flawed presidential election, BuaNews reported Wednesday.
“South African government has rejected with contempt the reasons given by members of the Kenyan government for not accepting Ramaphosa as a mediator,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad told media Tuessday.
The Kenyan government of President Mwai Kibaki, while rejecting Ramaphosa as a mediator, had questioned his business dealings with the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) of Raila Odinga and called him “a dishonest peace broker”.
“Ramaphosa has categorically denied all charges against him,” said Pahad, adding that the highly respected African leader’s track record both in the South African and Irish peace processes were spotless and that his withdrawal from the mediation panel was a great loss.
Ramaphosa withdrew from the African Union (AU) sponsored Kenyan mediation process, led by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, Monday.
The South African minister said his government continued to support the current AU mediation process that has succeeded in getting the rival Kenyan parties to agree on a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
He said that as part of the mediation process, the UN Human Rights Commission would be encouraged to go to Kenya to investigate the course of events since violence erupted shortly after the Dec 27 presidential elections.
More than 1000 people have been killed and some 250,000 internally displaced in the violence that broke out after the Kenyan election commission declared Kibaki had defeated rival Odinga by a narrow margin.
The opposition, in view of the overwhelming victory of ODM in the assembly elections, rejected the results and said the elections were rigged.
Pahad added that the South Africa has refrained from congratulating Kibaki on his election win as the elections had been contested immediately after it was announced.
“It is best for us not to pre-empt the result of the TRC and UN Human Rights Commission hearings,” said Pahad.