Yunus at 25th Anniversary of the Agreement which Brought End to Apartheid
From the left, Martti Ahtisaari, former President of the Republic of Finland, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General Emeritus IAEA & Nobel Peace Laureate (2005), Egypt, HE DFenis Sassou N’guesso, President of the Republic of Congo, Mary Robinson, Former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus and Peter Agre, the recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Republic of Congo is playing out Madiba magic as the country looks back on a historic deal that brought peace to Southern Africa.
Former President Nelson Mandela's face greets one from billboards and roadside banners in Brazzaville's main boulevards amid the flags of South Africa, Cuba, the US, Angola and the Republic of Congo.
Twenty five years ago in 1988, three countries, South Africa, Cuba and Angola signed a protocol named the Brazzaville protocol.
The Congolese capital commemorated on February 11, 2014 the 25th anniversary of the signing of the protocol in Brazzaville, capital of Republic of Congo.
The deal brought the so-called "Bosoorlog" to an end and led to the release of political prisoners on all sides. Nelson Mandela was released from prison six months after the protocol was signed. The rest is history.
It was a vital step towards South African democracy and Namibian independence. It also helped to stifle foreign influences in the conflict in Angola, eventually bringing to an end a civil war that raged for two decades.
Presidents of republic of Congo, Togo, São Tomé, and South Africa spoke at the ceremony attended by three Peace Nobel Laureates, defense minister of France, ministers from many African countries.
The anniversary was supposed to have been commemorated onDecember 22 last year. But the organizers postponed it, saying they could not hold the celebrations just a few weeks after Mandela's death.
President Zuma of South Africa and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane attended at the ceremony.
The dignitaries attending the event include several high-profile diplomats and three of the past decade's Nobel Peace laureates, Professor Muhammad Yunus, Mohammad Elbaradei, and former PM of Finland Martti Ahtissari.
