I insist call for a global peace summit, not just sanctions over North Korea
MR. PRESIDENT,
IN one of my earlier letters, I suggested that you, Mr. President, should call for a peace summit over North Korea, which will bring all, including China and North Korea itself, Japan, the USA itself, the European Union, Russia, Iran and Israel, all the key players, plus the rest of the global political and religious leadership, to chart out a new direction of peace and preserve humanity from a selfmade nuclear holocaust.
I want to propose further that the peace summit be held within six months or definitely under one year. Africa is a neutral venue where the powers can meet particularly Lusaka, which has been home and host of many peace accords in Southern Africa. For this, I am sure Zambia and President Edgar Lungu will be ready to provide the global service needed for humanity.
The UN sanctions that have been imposed, broadened and strong as they are against North Korea although straight forward in the eyes of international law, are very difficult to implement strictly. Experience has taught us that some big companies with international outreach have had the propensity to directly and indirectly bust such sanctions.
They continue to trade and get their profits and ignore the global peace requirements which such sanctions stand for. Peace tends to be sacrificed as big multinational corporations make their profit. In fact profits tend to double since the business risks become high, the products become rare and middle men, commodities increase.
The historical examples are many and too vividly clear, for us to ignore. In the 1970s, 1980s until the 1990s, when South Africa was an apartheid state using racial segregation as a system of governance, the UN imposed sanctions on South Africa. But South Africa’s economy continued with its normal business as usual with the rest of the world.
The multinational companies that were doing business with South Africa, are still doing business with the rest of the world, and they will still do business with North Korea, with or without sanctions. South Africa is the only member of the BRICS, the grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa itself, thanks to the fact that its economy continued to grow from the multinational investments whose mother countries are the industrialised European economics, USA and Japan who themselves are key members of the United Nations and the Security Council. What a paradox.
Before South Africa, we had the case of Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) under Ian Douglas Smith who led the white settler unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) in 1965. Sanctions were imposed against the Smith regime, which was an illegitimate regime in every respect. The multinational companies continued to conduct business with the regime.
What brought the regime to the political negotiating table were not the sanctions, but the liberation war mounted by the Zimbabwean people supported by the Organisation of African Unity and neighbouring states, Zambia included. The intensity of the liberation war brought an end to the Smith regime, not sanctions.
Mr. President, sanctions yes but they will not solve the political situation the world is facing over North Korea. To me North Korea will need to be brought to the political table using Chinese or any other influence.
This political table better be at global and at summit level heads of State and heads of all major religions to chart out a new global direction on the utilisation of natural resources in the world that have potential to be turned into together with the process of democratisation of systems of governance, that will ultimately make the people of North Korea make their own political choices and system of governance that will resonate with the rest of the world.
Once again, like I said in the earlier letter on the global peace summit, you Mr. President will be doing the world a great service by calling for this global peace summit. Donald Chanda Lecturer- UNZA (Rtd) Tel; 0979771803 Email; chakolongana@ gmail.com