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SA: No troops for Somalia
26/01/2007 13:18 - (SA)
Johannesburg - South Africa will not contribute troops to an African peacekeeping force in Somalia, but will study other ways to help to stabilise the war-ravaged country, says a defence ministry spokesperson.
Spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi said Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota made the decision after reviewing SA's overseas peacekeeping commitments, which included forces in Burundi, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as smaller missions in Ivory Coast and Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Mkhwanazi said: "SA supports the African Union deployment of peacekeepers, but South Africa, having contributed to the AU and the United Nations other missions, is currently stretched.
"It would not be in the interests of either the UN, the AU and other missions, where SA is involved if the country were to send troops to Somalia."
Uganda 'willing to contribute troops'
The AU had proposed sending about 8 000 peacekeepers to Somalia to bolster the interim government after Ethiopian troops pulled out of the chaotic country, where they intervened against Islamist forces in a two-week war in December.
Mkhwanazi said Lekota and other officials were reviewing other options for assisting the Somalia peacekeeping mission, which might include technical support, and would shortly advise President Thabo Mbeki on their suggestions.
This week, Nigeria said it would send a battalion to join the peacekeepers in Somalia, which defied UN and the United States peacekeeping attempts more than a decade ago and had not known peace since the overthrow of a dictator in 1991.
Malawi and Uganda had also said they were willing to contribute to the peacekeeping force.
Ethiopia had started withdrawing its troops, but there were fears the interim Somali government of President Abdullahi Yusuf, which lacked a national power-base, could implode if that happened and the Ethiopians were not swiftly replaced.
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