Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa welcomed on Tuesday the role of South Africa and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the African mission trying to negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine.
PR spoke at the presidential palace, Union Buildings, in Pretoria, at a joint press conference with Cyril Ramaphosa, who received him during his state visit.
“I would like to express my appreciation for the role of South Africa and President Ramaphosa in the African peacekeeping mission that will go to the battle almost immediately, with the aim of contributing, giving an African vision, to what we all desire deep down : that there is peace and security, which is European, but also global,” said Portuguese head of state Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
What is needed is a peace that “respects the principles of international law, respects values such as territorial integrity or sovereignty between states, and can end the negative economic, financial and social effects that have punished all continents.” of the universe,” he added.
Previously, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa emphasized that with regard to this conflict “Portugal has its well-known position, ally in the European Union and NATO, of condemning the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation and therefore of support to the Ukrainian people”.
Marcelo invites Ramaphosa to visit Portugal in the year of the 50th anniversary of April 25
Portugal’s head of state, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, this Tuesday invited South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa to visit Portugal, possibly next year, when the 50th anniversary of April 25 is celebrated.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke at the presidential palace, Union Buildings, in Pretoria, where he was received with military honors this Tuesday and met the South African president during a state visit to South Africa.
Speaking to the media, with Cyril Ramaphosa at his side, the Portuguese head of state invited him to visit Portugal for a meeting between the respective delegations.
“I suggest one of the two months that are really very pleasant in Portugal, or March or April,” declared Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
“Portugal would very much like to have him in a year like the next, when we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1974 revolution, which was the beginning of a long process,” he added.
Afterward, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa thanked him for the invitation and told Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa that he had been arrested in Mozambique after April 25.
“Your revolution, when it took place there in 1974, had other consequences in this region, and personally for me, because it was your revolution that led to my being arrested by apartheid rulers. As people celebrated the liberation of Mozambique, they decided to arrest me. That’s why we’re connected”, said Ramaphosa.
According to his official biography, Ramaphosa was imprisoned for eleven months in 1974 after taking part in a demonstration in favor of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo).
In a joint press conference with the South African president, after the meeting between the Portuguese and South African delegations, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa repeated the invitation to visit Portugal, pointing to “March next March”.
The Portuguese head of state reiterated that 2024 will be the year in which Portugal celebrates “five decades of freedom and democracy”, and considered that April 25 is related “to the independence of sister countries that speak Portuguese, but in some way also to the democratic struggle in South Africa against ‘apartheid'”.
Responding to journalists, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa clarified that he had not invited his South African counterpart to be in Portugal himself on April 25, “even for a very simple reason, President Ramaphosa will have other intense activities to develop in both next months and therefore March seems to be the appropriate period for the visit”.
“Anyway, I found out today that President Ramaphosa was finally hit by a side effect of April 25, 1974, because he was celebrating the way to independence of the new Portuguese-speaking states, namely Mozambique, when he was arrested,” he said. said.
The Portuguese delegation in the Presidential Palace consisted of the Minister of Defense, Helena Carreiras, the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities, Paulo Cafôfo, MPs Carlos Pereira, from the PS, António Maló de Abreu, from the PSD, Rui Paulo Sousa, from Chega, Carlos Guimarães Pinto, from the Liberal Initiative, and João Dias, from the PCP, and the Portuguese Ambassador to Pretoria, José Costa Pereira.
This official visit took place during the celebration of the Day of Portugal, Camões and the Portuguese Communities in South Africa, which Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa started in Cape Town on Monday and will continue on Wednesday in Johannesburg and Pretoria, with the participation of the Prime Minister , Antonio Costa.
Source: DN
