I Coast: SA's role up to AU

2005-09-05 10:54

Pretoria - It was up to the African Union to decide when South Africa's role as mediator in the Ivory Coast conflict should end, Defence Minister Mosioua Lekota said on Monday.

"The mediation is a mediation of the AU, not of the (rebel group) Forces Nouvelle (FN)," he told reporters in Pretoria.

"It isn't for the parties in the Cote d'Ivoire conflict to decide when the mediation will end."

The opinions of the FN on the topic were "really irrelevant", Lekota said.

The FN has rejected South Africa's mediation role and accused it of bias.

Lekota said the mediator's role would now focus on observing that the agreements reached were put in place as intended.

It was up to the AU and the United Nations to enforce the peace deals struck.

- SAPA