South African Minister's Visit

Abhaile Aris members meeting with Minister Ronnie Kasrils 13/01/07

Abhaile Aris members met with a delegation of South African Government officials including Minister for Intelligence Affairs Mr Ronnie Kasrils. ANC Officials who work out of the South African embassy in London accompanied Mr Kasrils.

The meeting which took place at the request of Abhaile Aris staff and management centred around the current debate on policing within the 6 Counties.

Mr Kasrils offered his wide-ranging experiences in these matters coming from the background that he has. He outlined how the ANC during negotiations with the then aparthied South African Government dealt with the policing issues. He talked about the need for change and how it was important to be in there at the beginning with a clear strategy. His talk and following question and answer session set the pace for a lively debate to which the target group members present contributed to immensely.

The policing debate has been a particular angst for our members some if not all of them have been on the receiving end of RUC/PSNI Death threats and torture over a long period they and there families have been tortured, harassed and even murdered by these forces so it is not an easy decision to make for republicans. So the fact that we had such an opportunity to converse with someone who had already in the South African context come through these difficulties was a great help to us all.