Director of International Coordination at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation Zaheer Laher tells the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria that this approach is central to South Africa’s participation as a rotating member of the United Nations Security Council.

A quarter of the way through South Africa’s two year term on the United Nations powerhouse, the Institute for Security Studies is hosting a forum looking at how its has been doing.

DIRCO’s top international relations official Zaheer Laher says there’s been criticism about advocating more talks rather punitive action on Venezuela.

“Part of the process, political dialogue would have come in almost every intervention we have made in the Security Council in the last six months and in our previous terms on the body. This is not an accident, South Africa will always emphasize the importance of political dialogue,” he says

Recent action, including Norway’s involvement as mediator in Venezuela, has vindicated South Africa’s support for dialogue rather than the big stick.

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They’ll improve informations sharing and  pay into a maritime security fund, hoping that this will boost development.

38 of the 54 African countries have coastlines.

90% of African imports come by sea, making maritime security paramount.

Pirates and smugglers have been able to slip between territorial waters with little trouble.

Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso hails the binding African Union agreement  signed by 43 countries as

historic.

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta says it shows Africa’s

ability to put together a continent-wide strategy.

No fewer than 18 heads-of-state were at the Togo summit.

Maritime security analyst at the Institute for

Security Studies Timothy Walker says the Togo deal cannot be the final step. There is still a lot of  work to do.

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But peace and security on the continent is now threatened by African leaders clinging to power.

At their summit in Sandton next weekend African leaders have to consider whether to red card those who do.

In the last half of the previous century there were 89 successful coups in Africa.

Since 2000 there have been only six.

David Zounmenou of the Institute for Security Studies says the new African tyrants are those who tamper with our disregard their constitutions to stay at the helm.

The African Union ground law stipulates that they should be shunned like any leader who’s seized power unconstitutionally.

Will the African leaders gathered in Sandton on Sunday have the courage to do this?

President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi is the latest example.

But there are at least four others in Rwanda, the two Congos and Benin.

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This call for an evidence-based response to Xenophobia was made by Ingrid Palmary of Witwatersrand University at a seminar of the Institute for Security Studies.

After killing at least 20 people in 2008, Xenophobia flared up again in some South African townships last month, with foreign-owned shops looted.

The government dismissed it as criminality.

Jean-Pierre Misogo of Witwatersrand University says that Xenophobia is a feeling. It is the manifestation of that feeling that causes violence and that’s what has to be fought.

Misogo says the violence is a factor of weak or usurped government – sometimes spurred by people seeking to replace elected officials for their own gain.

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