FT By Victor Mallet in Johannesburg and Andrew Parker in London Published: January 24 2001 17:57GMT | Last Updated: January 24 2001 21:29GMT Peter Hain, the UK's Foreign Office minister responsible for African affairs, has been accused by Pretoria of making "deeply offensive" comments about South Africa's attitude to Zimbabwe. Earlier this month Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, South Africa foreign minister, wrote in a letter to Robin Cook, foreign secretary, that Mr Hain's comments showed "the contempt" in which he held the government of the ruling African National Congress. Mr Hain is refusing to retract his comments, and Mr Cook has declined to apologise in a letter to Mrs Dlamini-Zuma. The row has baffled opposition politicians and diplomats in South Africa because Mr Hain is regarded as one of the west's most prominent supporters of post-apartheid South Africa. Mr Hain, a former anti-apartheid campaigner who went to school in South Africa, gave several interviews during his recent holiday in South Africa in which he praised the country and called for more foreign investment and tourism. But in a newspaper interview that outraged the ANC, he suggested that southern African leaders had failed to grasp the gravity of the crisis in Zimbabwe and accused Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean president, of creating "a police state climate". Mr Mugabe and his ruling party orchestrated a violent election campaign last year in which more than 30 opposition members were murdered, and have illegally seized hundreds of white-owned farms in an attempt to win the support of rural voters. Southern African governments have been reluctant to criticise him publicly in spite of damage to regional economies. The Foreign Office on Wednesday sought to play down the dispute. "Peter Hain throughout his visit repeatedly expressed Britain's enthusiasm and support for the South African government," said the British High Commission in Pretoria. Privately, diplomats described the South African outburst as "rather odd", while Tony Leon, leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance said Mrs Dlamini-Zuma had been "extraordinarily undiplomatic". Ronnie Mamoepa, Mrs Dlamini-Zuma's spokesman, said the problem was that Mr Hain had used the media to air his views. A Foreign Office spokesman in London said Mr Hain did not want to retract his comments, but stressed he had given a number of wide-ranging interviews. Mr Cook, in his letter to Mrs Dlamini-Zuma, offered reassurance rather than an apology. "We are very clear we do not see a fundamental difference between the South African position on Zimbabwe and our own," said a Foreign Office spokesman. _______________________________________________ Crashlist website: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base
