SA officer gets top UN post

2005-02-09 15:43

Pretoria - A South African officer has been appointed to a top United Nations (UN) command post in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) said on Wednesday.

"Brigadier General Duma Mdutyana has been appointed as the deputy divisional commander of the UN's Eastern Division in the DRC," said SANDF spokesperson Colonel John Rolt.

Mdutyana was expected to report for duty in the DRC at the end of the week.

He was previously the general officer commanding 43 SA Brigade Headquarters since 2002.

Rolt said Mdutyana's appointment, a first for South African peacekeepers, and the deployment of 1 200 members of the SA Infantry Battalion in the eastern DRC, stood as "clear testimony" of the UN's confidence in South African soldiers.

The SANDF said these latest developments were a direct result of the UN authorisation of increased force levels in the DRC, resulting from uprisings in the Ituri province during 2003.

A 30-person SANDF team which left for the DRC on February 2 to assist with team building and the integration process of different armed forces had arrived in the country.

The team was being deployed in terms of an agreement reached between South Africa, Belgium and the DRC.

South Africa had been involved in peacekeeping operations in the DRC since April 6 2001 and in Burundi since October 28 2001, the SANDF said.

- SAPA