South Africa: SA Calls for Lasting Solution in Syria

Pretoria — Concerned about the situation regarding Syrian refugees, South Africa has called on the international community to reflect on the root causes and find lasting solutions to the problem.
"The human tragedy requires us to find lasting solutions - which is to stop the war in Syria," said President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday, when he gave an update on South Africa's foreign policy.
The President addressed issues of foreign policy with a number of foreign ambassadors and high commissioners resident in South Africa.


He said it took the painful image of a 4-year-old Syrian boy, drowned and washed up ashore, to shake the world into action.
According to the United Nations, more than 300 000 people have risked their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea so far this year; 2 600 did not survive the dangerous crossing.
"Attempts to shut the borders by some European countries will not assist the situation. To achieve lasting peace in Syria, the international community must reject all calls for regime change in that country."
President Zuma added that the international community must not support external military interference or any action in Syria that is not in line with the Charter of the United Nations.
Support for non-state actors and terrorist organisations that seek to effect a regime change in Syria is also "unacceptable".
President Zuma called on South Africa's European Union partners, as well as Syria's regional neighbours, to assist the Syrian refugees, in full accordance and compliance with all human rights and humanitarian laws.
"We pledge our support to the EU as it grappled with this challenging situation," he said, adding that the issue puts pressure on the UN Security Council to find solutions as it moves towards the 70th anniversary next week.
In January and April this year, South Africa was forced to confront its own difficulties of migration when foreign and African nationals were attacked.
The President said government has been working hard with SADC sister countries to find solutions to the international challenge, especially the problem of illegal migration.
South Africa experiences a mixed migration flow comprising people who are genuine asylum seekers and those who flee to the country in search of economic relief.