No SA troops to Somalia:Lekota

[Jabhad]

By Thokozani Mtshali

 

South Africa will not be sending peacekeepers to Somalia, but will consider other support, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said on Thursday following a meeting with President Thabo Mbeki.

 

Lekota and Mbeki met in Pretoria to discuss the feasibility of sending troops for a peace-keeping mission to the war-torn Somalia.

 

This followed concerns in the South African Government and military circles that sending more troops for another peace-keeping mission, would strain the country's defence resources.

 

Speaking after the meeting, Lekota said he supported the African Union and the United Nations' view that there was a need for a strong peace-keeping force in Somalia.

 

 

However, he said South Africa would not be able to send troops there because its force was already over stretched, as it was involved in similar missions in various parts of Africa.

 

Lekota said it was his view that sending more troops to Somalia could consequently jeopardise South Africa's effectiveness on the other missions it has already committed itself to.

 

Lekota's spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi said the minister and the defence department were currently investigating other ways in which South Africa's military could lend support to the Somalia mission.

 

"He (Lekota) would then give the appropriate advice to the President on what possible assistance could be rendered," Mkhwanazi added.

 

South Africa currently has forces deployed in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Sudan as well as Ethiopia/Eritrea as part of peace-keeping missions in these countries. The AU and the UN last year urged African countries to assist by sending troops to Somalia to try to stabilise the country after the fall of the Islamic Court Union (ICU).

 

The ICU had run Somalia for about six months. Its leaders appointed themselves the governors of areas where Somalia's interim government had no authority.

 

Many other African countries, including Nigeria and Tanzania, are still considering the pros and cons of sending troops to Somalia.

 

The deployment may overstretch their military too. Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said the AU's plan for peacekeeping in Somalia entailed sending at least nine battalions comprising 800 troops each in a bid to bring stability to the country.

 

Somalia has been without a formal government for 16 years. So far only Uganda has committed itself to sending 1 000 soldiers to Somalia, pending approval by the Ugandan parliament.

[Wisdom_Seeker]

Ouch!!! I must say, because that is the throbbing the TFG supporters are going to feeling right after they read this piece of news.

 

The South Africans couldn't protect the somalis in South African. After the killing of Somali individuals in South African i doubt South Africa will send some of its troops to Somalia, for they fear that they may be targeted for vengeance reasons.

[rudy-Diiriye]

i said this a long time ago!! them homes are smart! they aint no fools.... i mean common, who can trust tfg!

 

and mark my word, if sa is not there! no body will show up!! the uganda moran might show up but hes bush's boy anyways! also nigeria aint gonna show up.

 

dont be surprised!!

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Koonfur Afrika is the most powerfully trained army in the continent, better than kuwa Masar u dhashay.

 

It was the only nuclear-armed country in the whole qaarad of Afrika, though Mandela completely abandoned it for the sake of world-wide peace.

 

They are not also ignorant waxa ka dhacaayo Afrika, and strongly are pro-Black Afrikans. They don't interfere other Afrikan countries' internal issues, otherwise Mugabe ayee ka bilaabi lahayeen.

 

This entity dowlad ku sheeg let them beg poorly armed, civil-war weary likes of Rwanda, Angola, Congo, Mozambique and et all, who are glad to send their militias masqueraded as forces to outside paid by the UN -- they, however, aren't that ignorant, either, oo dagaal sokeeye and its quagmire aad ayee isku yaqanaan. Maxaa ugu toban iyo shan ah waxaa ka dhacaayo Soomaaliya?