S. Africa awards Sukarno, Nehru

JAKARTA: Fresh from his trip to Indonesia for the Asian- African Summit, South African President Thabo Mbeki is slated on Tuesday to confer posthumous awards on Indonesia's founding president Sukarno and India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

The Order of the Companions of O.R. Tambo (Gold), the highest award in South Africa, are being conferred in recognition of Sukarno and Nehru's roles in promoting Afro-Asian solidarity, government officials said.

During the ceremony at the Union Building in Pretoria, the late Sukarno will be represented by his daughter and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, while Indian member of parliament Rahul Ghandi will represent his late great grandfather Nehru.

Megawati left for South Africa on Sunday, skipping the golden jubilee commemoration of the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference that Mbeki attended in Bandung. Preparations for the Asian-African Summit began during Megawati's presidency. -- JP