Journalism lies at the heart of democracy. Without a free press you cannot have a really

democratic State, said Frederik Willem de Klerk in a talk at the Jordan Media Institute

(JMI), on Tuesday. The former President of South Africa and 1993 winner of the Nobel

Peace Prize focused his remarks on the transitional period in his country and how –

against all odds - he engineered the end of apartheid, supporting the transformation of the

society into a multiracial democracy, after entering into unprecedented negotiations with

the black majority.

De Klerk stressed the importance of approaching negotiations with an open agenda by

leaders enjoying a strong popular support and ready to make sacrifices, as was his case

and Nelson Mandela’ s. According to de Klerk, what brought real change to South Africa,

more than international pressure or imposed sanctions, was economic development which

demanded a drastic change in attitude and the indispensable integration of the black work

force at all levels. There was also a realization that racial legislations that undermine

people’ s dignity could not continue.

Dr. Nawaf al-Tell, Director of the Centre for Strategic Studies who was moderating

the debate, opened then the floor to questions from the audience, which was made up

of students and faculty members from JMI, Jordan University, Petra University and the

Middle East University. HRH Princess Rym Ali attended the debate along with some of

JMI’ s Board Members. Most questions addressed to de Klerk centered on the Arab Israeli

conflict, with many students drawing parallels between the situation in Palestine and the

apartheid era in South Africa.

The former President insisted that each situation was unique and warned that making

systematic comparisons may not result in accurate analysis. He asserted that the

international community is “ creating a mess” in the way it is dealing with the situation

in the Middle East: I would like to see the West speak more decisively on certain

burning issues (…) also the European Union should be more strongly involved.”

The South African leader added that what is commonly referred to as the West has

to work on removing the flame which ignites conflicts in the region, and that is the

belief that Christians and Muslims are at war. Extremists should be isolated, he added.

Expressing himself in favour of a two-State solution, he believed that the Israeli

settlements were a major obstacle to peace.

Asked about the prospects for resolving the conflict in the Middle East, de Klerk noted

that only a few years before the apartheid ended (in 1991), nobody believed it was

possible, such was the growing spiral of violence there at that time. Settling the Middle

Eastern conflict would require from both sides the acceptance that it is necessary to do it

and would demand committed leaders “ willing to remove stumbling blocks and to cross

the bridge between the right of Palestinians to a territory and the right of Israel to exist.”

The former South African President, who once in power had apologized publicly for the

discriminatory policies of the white minority, concluded by saying: “ We are proud of

what we have achieved in South Africa. We think people can learn from our experience

but we will never be prescriptive on what should be done in other contexts.”

De Klerk was on a two-day visit to Amman, chairing the General Assembly of the Global

Leadership Foundation that was convening this year Jordan. The Global Leadership

Foundation's stated mission is to promote good governance and to contribute to the

prevention and resolution of conflict through mediation.