SECRETARY-GENERAL COMMENDS GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE OF SOUTH AFRICA FOR EXEMPLARY MANNER IN WHICH SECOND DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS CONDUCTED
Press Release
SG/SM/7019
AFR/146
SECRETARY-GENERAL COMMENDS GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE OF SOUTH AFRICA FOR EXEMPLARY MANNER IN WHICH SECOND DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS CONDUCTED
19990604 The following statement was issued today by the Office of the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:The Secretary-General would like to commend the Government and people of South Africa for the exemplary manner in which they have conducted the second democratic elections of their country. He lauds the positive and peaceful atmosphere in which the elections were conducted and the robust participation of South Africans in the democratic process.
He commends all the political parties and their supporters for helping to consolidate the historic, democratic and non-racial elections of 1994 which were pivotal to the transformation of South Africa into a democratic society based on equality, respect and opportunity for all of its people.
The Secretary-General would like to extend his warm congratulations to President-elect Thabo Mbeki, the African National Congress and the people of South Africa and to assure them that the United Nations, which supported the struggle for a non-racial society with equality for all, will spare no effort to support South Africa as it continues to consolidate its democratic and development achievements. He takes this opportunity also to express his abiding admiration and respect for President Nelson Mandela, whose place in the history of South Africa is self-evident.
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