Mbeki backs EU troops for DRC
2006-07-08 21:40
Berlin - President Thabo Mbeki is supportive of European Union plans to send up to 2 000 soldiers to the Democratic Republic of Congo before and after the country's upcoming elections.
Speaking after meeting Mbeki in Berlin in Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Mbeki viewed the engagement of the EU and Germany in the DRC as the right thing to do.
She said this "positive attitude" was important for the mission.
South Africa was initially wary of EU plans to deploy peacekeepers to the DRC.
Merkel and others asked Mbeki to speak to DRC President Joseph Kabila in favour of the mission.
Mbeki, on a visit to the German capital, said the ultimate decision was up to the Congolese.
He said the support of Germany was important to the whole of Africa in mastering threats to the continent.
Germany's foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, meanwhile has said in a news interview that the EU mission to DRC, for the country's elections on July 30, was necessary to stabilise the Central Africa region.
'No evidence of election violence'
Any gain in stability in the DRC would have a "positive effect in neighbouring countries such as Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda", he told the news magazine Focus for its Monday edition.
Failed states generally exported conflict, terrorism and refugee crises, he said.
Steinmeier said the German government saw no evidence there would be an outbreak of violence in DRC after the polls.
"But no one can calculate this with ultimate certainty," he said.
Germany is set to provide 780 of the 2 000-strong EU force in DRC.
Steinmeier expressed doubt that Nato would mount a peace mission in the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur, saying peacekeepers there ought to remain under African command.
This appears to differ from remarks by German defence minister Franz Josef Jung.
In a report by German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Jung indicated that he expected Germany to boost its present team of officers there.
After her talks with Mbeki, Merkel said everything necessary had to be done to ensure the United Nations could continue its Sudan involvement.
- SAPA