SA to send troops to Liberia
2003-08-12 19:30
Pretoria - South Africa will contribute to a UN-led international peacekeeping force in Liberia, Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said in Pretoria on Tuesday.
"The president (Thabo Mbeki) has indicated that we have to assist the United Nations. We just have to decide exactly how we can do so," Pahad told reporters.
"South Africa will contribute to a multinational force in Liberia. This will have to go through the cabinet and through parliament. We also have to look at capacity."
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had written to South Africa, requesting participation in a UN peacekeeping mission, Pahad said.
The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) regional bloc has already begun deploying its own troops in Liberia, where Charles Taylor has just stepped down from power.
But faced with mounting violence in the country, which has seen 14 years of nearly uninterrupted fighting, the United Nations voted on August 1 not only to back the Ecowas peacekeepers, but also to create an international stabilisation force which will take over in October.
Namibia, Pakistan and Bangladesh have already offered to contribute troops to the UN force.
The multinational forces aim to enforce a June 17 ceasefire between the Liberian government, now led by President Moses Blah, and two rebels groups which had been seeking Taylor's removal from power.