Arafat in South Africa on Monday

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat is heading to South Africa on Monday, at the invitation of South African President Nelson Mandela.

A South African spokesman, Michael Van Nikurk, said that Arafat will arrive in South Africa early Monday morning and leave on the coming Thursday.

He added that Arafat will deliver a speech before the South African parliament on Wednesday, and he will also visit the prison in which Mandela spent most of his life.

Arafat will hold talks over relations between the two countries and over the peace process in the Middle East with Mandela.

Arafat will also inform Mandela of the results of talks recently held with Israel under US supervision and the reasons for the talks' failure.