Hon Speaker, hon Deputy President, hon members, after having listened to the hon Minister of Defence and Military Veterans and the hon Bhoola, I thought this is a journey we should all be joining in - to respond to what the Organisation of African Unity, OAU, Summit, held in the last millennium in Algeria in 1999 called on our leaders to do as they met: The end of the second millennium represented, for Africa, the demise of an era characterised by colonisation and its tragic trail of domination, plunder and negation of the African personality. ... It is therefore with most profound respect that we bow to the memories of all the martyrs of Africa whose supreme sacrifice has paved the way for the continent to regain its freedom and dignity.
We can repeat the same words today, as we remember our soldiers who paid the supreme sacrifice in the Central African Republic in the service of peace and development on our continent, Africa.
It was no accident that, as we were closing up the era of the OAU and charting in the African Union, AU, the Algiers Summit declared 2000 as the Year for Peace, Security and Solidarity in Africa. This was so because of the recognition that, with the era of decolonisation concluded in the last millennium, save still for the Western Sahara, peace and security was to feature high in the 21st century, not only because of the hardship and suffering it causes, but also because of its dialectical linkage to our development.
Since South Africa's readmission to the international community, our engagement on issues of global peace and security has been informed by our understanding that we cannot be an island of peace and stability in a continent of wars, conflicts and strife. We are not, hon Groenewald, a homeland. So, we cannot just mind the business of our own backyard. We are an integral part of this continent. [Applause.]
This is in line with of our vision of an African continent that is prosperous, peaceful, democratic and united, and which contributes to a world that is just and equitable. So, therefore, peace, security and development shall remain inseparable. That which is good for the French, American, British and all citizens of the developed world is also good for Africans, particularly on African soil. [Applause.] We will continue to say no to political partitioning of this continent according to which colonial powers countries were under. Wherever one finds South Africans, we will continue to fight to demolish these imaginary borders that still want to refer to us as former British colonies, former French colonies, and former this and that. We will say no.
This perspective is derived from foreign policy imperatives, speaking to South Africa's national interest and the vision of a better Africa in a better world, championed by the diplomacy of ubuntu, which this administration, under President Zuma, had brought to the Cabinet and which was adopted - and I am happy that I hear some members here quoting the diplomacy of ubuntu. [Interjections.]
The crisis in the Central African Republic is a microcosm of Africa's challenges of the 21st century. It is an open secret that in the Central African Republic, every other government that came in came in after a coup d'tat, then some elections and some dealers later. So, therefore, that is what we will continue negating and we will do so working with the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, working with all other regional bodies, working under the African Union and the United Nations.
Our involvement in peace interventions in Africa has been linked to peace- keeping, peace-making ...