... where we work through all these bodies that I referred to. We will not walk away after peace-making. We will maintain that in post-conflict reconstruction and development, because, had South Africa not intervened in Burundi, the people of Burundi would not have been free, as they still are today. There would have been no peace in Burundi. [Applause.] We were there. We worked with the regional body in the Great Lakes region, we worked with the African Union. We worked with the UN. In fact, the UN was the last to arrive when we finally found peace, and ironically, at that time, President Zuma was the Deputy President of this country. We helped, from mediation to peace-making, peace-building, post-conflict. If you walk into Burundi today and mention South Africa, you will find them singing the praises of the sacrifices of the people of this country. [Applause.]
We will continue championing this diplomacy of ubuntu, working for peace and security for this continent, without shame, because that is what we are about. We will start here, in our own region, in SADC. When the mediation process started in Zimbabwe, we were given all sorts of unsolicited advice, but today we have been proven to have done the right thing - to respect the Zimbabweans, and to make sure that there is a proper, made-in-Zimbabwe solution - and that is what the ANC-led government will continue championing.
We will do the same, as we continue doing in Darfur, where we still have our peace builders. In South Sudan, every single official of government was trained by this country in our mission of post-conflict reconstruction and development. Only South Africa did that. [Applause.]
South Africa has expended significant resources and time in all these areas. In our view, the maintenance of peace and stability are critical to the achievement of a holistic foreign policy agenda. The hon President, Jacob Zuma, spoke to us from this podium earlier this year in his state of the nation address about our unwavering and unapologetic commitment to a peaceful and prosperous Africa.
Our participation in the United Nations has focused on the twin challenges of security and development on our continent. It is for this reason that in the 19 years of our membership of the United Nations, we have been mandated twice by the members of the African Union - and indeed, of the world - to serve on the Security Council, in 2007-08, and recently in 2011-12. During the last term of our stay on the Security Council and under the chairmanship of President Zuma, we adopted the historic Resolution 2033, that which now compels the international community under the UN to continue to co-operate and always consult with Africans first about issues of Africa; that there will be co-operation clearly under a resolution of the Security Council.
Just two months ago, the UN General Assembly elected South Africa again to the Peace Building Commission, PBC. All five countries that are on the Peace Building Commission agenda are African Countries. The Central African Republic is both on the agenda of the Security Council and of the Peace Building Commission.
The primary mandate of the PBC is to assist countries emerging from conflicts not to slide back into conflicts. The biggest challenge in this respect is Security Sector Reform and Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration, DDR. In the Central African Republic, Security Sector Reform and DDR have been identified by the United Nations as part of these challenges. For any country to have a clear and actionable development programme, it needs a strong and professional security sector and rule of law.
Hon members heard earlier on from the hon Minister of Defence and Military Veterans and the hon Bhoola - and those who really cared to read that which is positive - that, in Ecowas... what is very interesting is that none of us here is asking questions as to why other countries are manning airports in an African country. [Interjections.] South Africa must then be asked what it is doing there. We are an integral part of this continent and we will continue doing exactly that. [Applause.]
Recently, the UN General Assembly elected us again to the Economic and Social Council, Ecosoc. Our membership of this crucial organ of the United Nations is informed by our understanding that there cannot be any development without security, and vice versa.
As I said earlier, referring to the historic summit in Algiers, it is also worthwhile, remembering that the stance that summit took in rejecting unconstitutional changes of government on our continent, which resulted in the Declaration on the Framework for an OAU Response to Unconstitutional Changes of Government, which was adopted in Lome in 2007, needs to be given support. That is, we need to strengthen the intervention brigades, hon Minister of Defence - it has to happen, like yesterday - so that we defend these decisions, we make sure that we put a stop to these unconstitutional changes of government, in whatever form.
It should also be shameful that hon members should come here and start saying we should have felt scared of mercenaries. As a democratic country, we will continue working with other democratic governments on our continent to defend peace, security and democracy on our continent. [Interjections.]
We will not walk away; we will not be scared of mercenaries, because mercenaries derive their mandate from no one. So, please do not ask us to be scared of mercenaries. It is shameful that hon members can come into Parliament and start quoting mercenaries on how they will stop legitimate ... [Inaudible.] ...