S. Africa punishes Portugal

S. Africa punishes Portugal

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (Agencies): South Africa has expelled Portugal's ambassador over the leaking of a misdirected note from President Nelson Mandela to his Indonesian counterpart, but diplomatic ties remain intact, government sources said yesterday.

Two South African government sources confirmed a report that Portuguese Ambassador Vasco Valente had last week been given 48 hours to leave the country.

It is the first time South Africa has expelled a diplomat since 1994, when Mandela became the country's first democratically elected leader.

The sources said Mandela wrote to Indonesian President Soeharto in mid-July, asking him to release jailed East Timorese rebel Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao as a first step towards resolving the conflict there.

The letter was sent in error to the embassy of Portugal, East Timor's former colonial power, and was neither returned nor forwarded to the Indonesian Embassy.

Mandela's proposal was leaked to newspapers in Portugal before Soeharto was made aware of it.

The letter was supposedly sent soon after Mandela returned from a state visit in Indonesia, from July 14 to July 16. But Soeharto did not receive the letter until Friday.

After the error was uncovered, Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas questioned why Portuguese officials did not immediately return the letter which they knew was not meant for them.

The South African sources said the incident did not permanently damage relations with Indonesia or Portugal.

"This happened in terms of international diplomatic protocols, which allow one country to object to a particular individual without affecting diplomatic relations in any way," one of the sources told Reuters.

"There has been a slight mistake on the part of one individual and he has been asked to leave," said the other.

South African foreign ministry spokesman Pieter Swanepoel declined to confirm or deny Valente's expulsion, saying: "We have no comment because this has had an impact on our relations with a third country."

Mandela's spokesman, Parks Mankahlana, said South Africa would not comment on any aspect of the incident over the misdirected letter, adding that it was already received by Soeharto and that the peace process was on track.

Meanwhile in Jakarta, the South African Embassy also refused to say whether the Portuguese ambassador was expelled.

"The South African Embassy in Jakarta is neither able to confirm nor deny the reports," an embassy statement said.

Trying to avoid being misperceived as supporting one or the other, the statement stressed that the South African government "is eager to be seen as a neutral party by all those involved in the current debates that are taking place on the East Timor question".