South African President in Nassau on State Visit

December 29, 2003.

NASSAU, The Bahamas---His Excellency Thabo Mbeki, President of the Republic
of South Africa, arrived in Nassau Sunday morning on a five-day State Visit
to The Bahamas.

Prime Minister and Minister of Finance the Hon. Perry G. Christie 
greeted President Mbeki and First Lady Madame Mbeki as they stepped off his 
South African Air Force Boeing 737 white presidential jet at Nassau International
Airport.

Prime Minister Christie also presented President Mbeki to Deputy 
Prime Minister and Minister of National Security the Hon. Cynthia Pratt, Commissioner of 
Police Paul Farquharson, Commodore of the Defence Force Davy Rolle.       

        Madame Mbeki was presented with a bouquet of flowers by eight-year-old 
Hillary Wallace, a grade three student at Xavier’s School.

The South African President took the general salute and inspected a joint 
Police and Defence Force Honour Guard on the airport tarmac before being 
escorted by Prime Minister Christie to the reception line for presentation
to Cabinet Ministers, parliamentarians, senior civil servants and other 
assembled dignitaries.        

President Mbeki flew directly from the Waterkloof Air Force Base 
in Pretoria, the South African capital. His Foreign Minister, 
Dr. N. Dlamini Zuma, arrived in The Bahamas on Friday, 
December 26. 

Following arrival ceremony, President Mbeki., escorted by the 
Prime minister, laid a wreath at the cenotaph at the Nassau War Cemetery 
on Maxwell Lane off Farrington Road, where a South African pilot, Flight 
Lieutenant J. G. Owen, DFC, is buried.

        President Mbeki was also introduced by Prime Minister Christie to 
members of the Royal Bahamas British legion and the Independent Order of 
the Daughters of the Empire (IODE), before visiting the grave of the fallen
 South African soldier.

               Flt. Lt. Owens, 27, a pilot in the British Royal Air Force (RAF), went missing in The Bahamas on October 13, 1943 while attached to a RAF Flight Training School at the former Oakes Field Airport.  

        President Mbeki and his entourage also attended a special 
beat retreat by the Royal Bahamas Police Force Band in Rawson Square 
Sunday evening. Also present were Governor General Her Excellency Dame 
Ivy Dumont, Prime Minister Christie and Deputy Prime Minister Pratt.

               On Monday, December 29, President Mbeki paid courtesy calls on Governor-General Her Excellency Dame Ivy Dumont at Government House, and Prime minister Christie at the Cabinet Office, followed by a meeting with Prime Minister Christie and his Cabinet at the Cabinet Office.        

President Mbeki later met with Leader of the Official Opposition the Hon. Alvin Smith 
and opposition Members of Parliament at the House of Assembly.                               

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