Mozambique troops to Burundi
2003-09-09 22:14
Maputo - Mozambique will this week dispatch 228 troops to join an African peacekeeping force in war-torn Burundi, the defence ministry said on Tuesday.
The 228 will leave for Burundi before the end of the week to join an advance team of 16 Mozambican troops sent to the central African state in May, the ministry said.
South Africa and Ethiopia are also contributing troops to the force.
President Joaquim Chissano delivered a farewell address to the troops on Tuesday at their barracks in Boane, some 15km north of the capital Maputo.
Chissano, who is also the chairperson of the African Union (AU), said Mozambique was sending troops to Burundi as part of "the African Union decision to actively get involved in the resolution of conflicts on the continent."
He promised Mozambique would do its best to contribute to conflict prevention and peacekeeping on the continent.
Burundi's civil war broke out in 1993, pitting rebels from the Hutu majority against Tutsi rivals who control the military and held sway over the government until an interim power-sharing regime was installed in November 2001.
More than 300 000 people have died in the fighting, most of them civilians.
- SAPA