INPUT BY AZAPO PRESIDENT, MOSIBUDI MANGENA, TO THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DEBATE ON THE UNITED STATES BOMBING:   03 OCTOBER 2001

 Madam Speaker

 In the aftermath of the horrific attack on the 11^th September 2001 that snuffed out thousands of lives in the United States, the American people must know that we share their horror, pain and suffering. We sympathise with all those who lost their loved ones or were injured.

 We support the view that our country and its security organs must take part in the search and capture of the perpetrators of these acts so that they may brought to justice. All legitimate, appropriate and fair methods, preferably under the mandate and direction of the United Nations, must be used to find those responsible.

AZAPO urges that in this period of universal grief, the international community should take advantage of this widespread unity to create a fairer and more just world order. Suicide bombers are bitter, weak and desperate people who believe they have literally nothing to loose, including their own lives.

It is not a fair world if half a million Iraqi babies, who know nothing about Saddam Hussein, die of starvation and diseases because of sanctions imposed against the Iraqi government. It is not a fair world if civilians and children are killed and maimed in the Middle East by weapons supplied by powerful nations in the world.

Let the search for these criminals be accompanied by vigorous campaigns to create a more just world regime that does not breed desperate people. The United Nations, the United States and Western Europe are in a powerful position to bring about a fair settlement in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and to save the Iraqi children from starvation, diseases and death.

Then the world struggle against the merchants of evil and death would be a resounding success.

I thank you.