Cooperation with other Countries’ Representatives in South Africa

For a newcomer diplomat like me to a country where there had not been a Danish diplomatic representative for many years, it was invaluable to be able to draw on already established diplomatic colleagues, especially from the other Nordic and other EC countries. Sweden, Norway and Finland were all represented at ambassador level, masquerading as envoys or consuls general. The Norwegian Consul General, Bjarne Lindstrøm, had kept us well and thoroughly informed of developments in South Africa for several years, and with his successor, Jens Otterbech, and the Swedish Envoy, Ingemar Stjernberg, as well as the Finnish Ambassador, Bjørn Ekblom, I enjoyed a good and close working relationship. We all needed to report to our capitals on the dismantling of the apartheid system, particularly with a view to the lifting of sanctions by our governments. Although the Nordic countries had agreed on a Nordic anti- apartheid profile, the Joint Nordic South Africa Programme, this consensus among the Nordic capitals could not be maintained when it came to the lifting of the Nordic countries’ national sanctions. On the other hand, Nordic co-operation in South Africa only intensified as political developments unfolded.