Sapa-DPA. March 28 2001 at 10:29PM.
South Africa's National Financial Daily
Havana - As he awarded South Africa's visiting president and fellow
revolutionary Thabo Mbeki his socialist country's highest honour for a foreign
dignitary, Cuban leader Fidel Castro said that "arms are no longer
necessary in Africa".
At a ceremony Tuesday night at the State Council building in Revolution
Square in Havana, Castro granted Mbeki the Jose Marti order for his "courageous,
valuable and efficient revolutionary life".
Castro also expressed confidence "in the definitive victory of South
African patriots in the construction of a new country, and in their plans for
unity for the continent".
The Cuban head also lauded Mbeki, who arrived in Cuba on Monday and was set
to leave Thursday, for the difficult tasks he has carried out since he was
elected in 1999 "in extremely complex conditions".
Earlier on Tuesday, Mbeki thanked Cuba for the military support given to
fight apartheid in South Africa.
"Cuba occupies a prominent place in the history of the struggle and
achievement of liberty in the African continent," Mbeki said at a lecture
he gave at Havana University.
Cuba staunchly opposed the apartheid regime in South Africa and supported
African National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela during his more than 20
years as a political prisoner.
From the mid-1970s Cuba intervened in several African countries, including
offering military support to leftist movements in Angola.
As part of the negotiations to grant Namibia independence from South Africa,
brokered by the former Soviet Union and the United States, Cuba later agreed to
withdraw from Angola.
After Mandela was released from jail in 1990 and elected president in 1994,
Havana and Pretoria established diplomatic ties.
Since the transition from apartheid began, Havana has sent several hundred
physicians to South Africa, and more than 400 Cuban doctors are currently posted
there in rural areas.
Some 200 South African students are studying medicine at Cuba's School of
Medical Science.
Mbeki also praised Cuba for its aid programmes in African countries. "Cuba
has played and continues to play an exemplary role in international solidarity,
in education, health and other scientific areas," the South African
president said.
On Tuesday, Pretoria and Havana signed science and technology, maritime
trade, air services, sports and cultural agreements after Mbeki and Castro held
official talks for over three hours.
At a press conference Mbeki described future relations between South Africa
and Cuba as "encouraging" and said the two men broached bilateral
issues and the international political scenario including the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Mbeki referred to Cuba's offer to help South Africa cope with its AIDS
epidemic by offering cheap drugs for the disease.
He said that even though the some large international pharmaceutical
companies have offered to lower their prices on anti- AIDS medications, "many
patients can still not afford them".
The South African president is travelling with his wife, Zenele Dlamini, and
several government officials, including South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana
Dlamini Zuma and Sports Minister Nkonte Balfour.
A Cuban official said both countries were particularly interested in
pharmaceutics and that Cuba would be willing to cooperate with South Africa for
the latter to produce Cuban-developed vaccines.
Castro also said that Cuba would be willing to waive patents on its
medications to allow mass production to benefit poor Third World nations and
that the anti-AIDS drugs offer also included Brazil.
Mbeki was set on Wednesday to place a crown of flowers at the monument of
Cuban independence hero Jose Marti and also pay homage to Cuban soldiers who
died in action in Africa.
The South African leader was also scheduled to unveil a bust of former ANC
president Oliver Tambo and tour petrochemical industry installations at the
beach resort of Varadero, 140 kilometres east of Havana.
South Africa already has some mining investments in Cuba and is believed to
be interested in investing in the Cuban petroleum-product or sugar industry.
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