SA ends I Coast mediation
2005-08-30 21:15
Pretoria - South Africa's mediation bid in strife-torn Ivory Coast has been "concluded" and it will ask the United Nations and African Union to take over peace efforts.
Deputy foreign minister Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday: "We think the time has come.
"The mediation has completed its work... the security council must now take over" in the West African country.
Pahad said Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, who was to brief the UN security council on Wednesday, would report that "we believe the UN and African Union should ensure that agreements are implemented".
Tensions had been rising in the in the former west African powerhouse, fuelled by last week's decision by rebels to withdraw their support for presidential elections planned for October 30 as part of a South African mediated peace plan.
Lekota was to brief the security council at the request of the council president, Japan's envoy Kenzo Oshima.