SA to send troops to DRC

2003-06-09 08:28

Pretoria - South Africa said on Sunday it will provide troops for the international peacekeeping force set to deploy in turbulent northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where ethnic violence has killed hundreds in recent weeks.

"We will provide troops to both the interim force in Bunia and to Monuc (the UN military mission in the DRC)," said Sydney Mufamadi, minister for provincial affairs, who has been facilitating peace talks among the parties to DRC's four-year-long civil war.

Mufamadi said he could not give exact figures for the troops who would head to Bunia, the main town in DRC's Ituri region, saying that was "being discussed by our military people. But we will help to do what is expected under the UN mandate."

An advance guard of French and British troops landed Friday in Bunia, where clashes have continued between fighters of the ethnic Lendu majority and Hema minority, who have controlled the town since mid-May.

The peacekeeping force, under the authority of the European Union with United Nations backing, is mandated to secure Bunia airport and protect civilians and UN personnel in the town but has no power to intervene in fighting elsewhere in the Ituri region.

The UN mission in DRC is already present in Bunia, and refugees and foreign journalists have taken refugee in its compound during the fighting.

Mufamadi announced the South African deployment following a meeting covering the Bunia fighting between South African President Thabo Mbeki, who chairs the African Union, and ambassadors of the UN security council.

South Africa has been actively involved in negotiations to set up a transitional government and interim constitution for the DRC as part of an ongoing peace process grouping the Kinshasa government and various rebel groups.

South Africa has sent soldiers to DRC's central-eastern region under the Monuc banner, but deployment in Bunia has been ruled out until now.

The UN delegation met with Mbeki ahead of its tour of the Great Lakes region, which begins on Monday. The team will visit DRC, Angola, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

The leader of the UN security council team, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, applauded South Africa's role in the DRC and Burundi peace processes.

"Security council members are of the opinion that important progress has been made on both these processes but that this is not irreversible. Both processes are fragile," he said. - Sapa-AFP

- SAPA