Government defends Ramaphosa
February 06 2008 at 08:26AM
By Peter Fabricius & Fiona Forde
The South African government has slammed the Kenyan government for rejecting Cyril Ramaphosa as a mediator in the Kenyan political negotiations on the grounds that he was not an honest broker.
Businessman and ANC national executive committee member Ramaphosa pulled out of his mediation role on Monday after the President Mwai Kibaki had repeatedly questioned his integrity as a mediator.
Kibaki's government had suggested that he would be biased because he had had business links with Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga, who believes that Kibaki stole the December 27 presidential elections away from him.
Former United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan who is trying to mediate a peace settlement between Kibaki and Odinga, had appointed Ramaphosa as his chief specialist.
Ramaphosa has rejected the Kenyan government's suggestion that he has business links with Odinga.
Deputy Foreign minister Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday that the government had" strongly rejected - with the contempt it deserves - the Kenyan government's suggestion that Ramaphosa could not be an honest broker".
Pahad also made it clear that the government would not recognise Kibaki's election victory until the dispute about the elections had been resolved.
o This article was originally published on page 2 of The Mercury on February 06, 2008
