Deputy Speaker, the IFP joins President Jacob Zuma and other African leaders attending the Franco-African summit taking place in Nice, France, in expressing its disapproval of France's invitation to the military rulers of Guinea and Niger to attend the said summit.
It is the responsibility of world powers, including France, not to recognise undemocratic, military juntas, as they undermine Africa's efforts to bring peace, stability, co-operation and development to the continent and its people.
A strong Africa is capable of effectively taking its rightful place among the nations of the world, including occupying a permanent seat on the Security Council of the United Nations, as France is now advocating.
President Zuma is right: A new African order should not only be about economic markets for external trade, it should also be about the recognition and protection of the fundamental rights and liberties of all the peoples of the African continent, in particular women and children, who are the most vulnerable. It is an empirical fact that in world trade the economically strong nations of the world continually and with impunity write the rules of trade in their favour. The president of France is, therefore, correct in saying that it was time that African nations were allowed to participate in world decisions, including participation at the level of the Security Council of the UN. Thank you.