PRETORIA - Ten Iraqi politicians will visit South Africa next month to learn about the country’s peaceful transition to democracy, the deputy foreign minister said on Tuesday. “The United Nations feels the politicians, who will be Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds who participated in the electoral process there, can benefit from visiting South Africa and interacting with our politicians from across the politican spectrum and all sectors of society,” Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad told AFP.
The Iraqi politicians will spend about a week in South Africa.
Apartheid ended peacefully in South Africa in 1994 when the African National Congress (ANC) and Nelson Mandela were voted into power in the first democratic and multi-racial elections. “The world was expecting the greatest catastrophe here, instead we have developed into one of the first emerging nations in the world,” said Pahad. |