Quinton Mtyala
IRAQ’s outgoing ambassador to South Africa says the two countries can build on their relations with one another, through closer commercial and security ties.
Hashim al-Alawi, who is based in Pretoria, was visiting Cape Town as a guest of the ANC, its Progressive Business Forum and the Centre for the Advancement of Pan African Empowerment where he spoke to them about the security situation in the Middle East, particularly the steps South Africa could take to stop extremists from joining the self-styled Islamic State (IS).
He called on the South African government to help it fight the IS.
“We are looking for relevant equipment and technologies to arm our security forces,” said al-Alawi.
In terms of security co-operation, al-Alawi said it made sense for South African and Iraqi authorities to work more closely together in stemming the tide of IS sympathisers from this country who have made the journey to Iraq and Syria.
While some might balk at comparisons, al-Alawi sees many similarities between Iraq and South Africa. “The four-and-a-half years that I have spent in South Africa have helped me to clearly understand the similarities between South Africa and Iraq. Both countries have diverse communities, they have been through difficulties… in your case because of apartheid, in our case because of dictatorship,” said al-Alawi.
He said Iraq was paying the price for years of poor leadership under its previous dictator Saddam Hussein, whose ousting by the US in 2003, following false claims that he had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, had hurled the country into instability.
Al-Alawi said both South Africa and Iraq were important players in their respective regions and continents with abundant natural resources, good human resources, similar foreign policies in that they are members of the Non-Aligned Movement, Group of 77 and other South-South groups.
“The more I have seen of South Africa, the more it has become clear to us how common the values and the issues are, and how important it is for the two governments to work together.”
Compared to other countries in the Middle East, South Africa’s trade links with Iraq remained negligible, with the outgoing ambassador saying much needed to be done to improve the relationship. “The current level of relations between Iraq and South Africa is not up to our ambition. There is a great potential to enhance relations in all aspects,” said al-Alawi.
A bilateral agreement signed in 2012 focuses on 12 key sectors which include energy, electricity generation, agricultural processing, transportation, tourism, health care, environmental affairs, telecommunications and so on.
Al-Alawi said historically Iraq had supplied South Africa with crude oil, and while instability over the previous decade had hampered production, this had changed over the last few years.
“We are keen on providing South Africa with some of its needs which will help it achieve its goals when it comes to energy security but also it will diversify the sources of energy supply.
“This will increase trade levels and motivate other departments to look for business opportunities in Iraq,” said al-Alawi.
He said increasing trade levels were mutually beneficial and could affect poverty and unemployment eradication in South Africa.
“When we look at other aspects like higher education, there is a great potential for co-operation along with housing, telecommunications and defence,” said al-Alawi.
Most of South Africa’s trade in the Middle East has been focused on the Gulf region where state-controlled arms manufacturer Denel’s weapons systems like the G6 howitzer and its armoured vehicles have proved popular with the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
“We have arranged in the past four-and-a-half years to bring five high-level delegations from Iraq. In 2012 our minister of trade was here and we had a good meeting with (trade and industry minister) Rob Davies, and both signed bilateral agreements on economic and technical co-operation,” said al-Alawi.
Iraq has been teetering on the brink of civil war since the withdrawal of US troops started in 2007 and ended in 2011. Although it is a majority Muslim country, sectarian violence and the march of the IS has threatened the legitimacy of Iraq’s central government which is headed by President Fuad Masum.
Al-Alawi said despite his country’s challenges, he was looking forward to seeing many more South Africans visiting Iraq, and his countrymen visiting South Africa. Since his arrival here in April 2011, al-Alawi said he had tried to portray a positive image of Iraq, one which went beyond the international headlines.
“The focus in the media has been on the negative stories, and I have tried to engage with different people, at the universities, mosques, churches and the general public to give reliable information,” said al-Alawi.