20 Oct 2010
Amman, 14-10-2010
Veteran United Nations’ envoy and diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi said that the fast pace of change that South Africa experienced after the end of apartheid was nothing short of a miracle after decades of intransigence.
He added, during a lecture he gave at the Jordan Media Institute (JMI), that many people are not aware of the role played Frederik W. de Klerk, the last white president of South Africa, in engineering the end of apartheid.
Brahimi spoke to JMI’s students about his experience as UN envoy to South Africa in 1994 during the transition period. He explained the circumstances that led to ending apartheid rule, particularly the comprehensive boycott of South African, which started with African Nations and spread at the end of the Cold War to the rest of the world.
Students asked Brahimi about lessons learned from the South African experience and how they can be applied in the context of the Middle East conflict.
This was the second visit by His Excellency Lakhdar Brahimi to the Jordan Media Institute in a year, and he was presented by His Excellency Mr. Abdel-Ilah Al-Khatib former Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Brahimi, an Algerian diplomat and politician, was UN envoy to numerous conflict zones including Lebanon, Iraq, and Afghanistan, before he retired in 2005.