Sapa
Friday, January 26, 2007
Spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi said the department would rather study other ways to help stabilise the war-stricken country.
"Defence Minister Mosioua Lekota considered that the military was already stretched to capacity by peacekeeping deployments in other countries," said Mkhwanazi.
South Africa has contributed peace-keeping troops to Sudan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
"We support the AU's mission in Somalia, but the minister's view is that to send troops would neither be to the interest of current missions where South Africa is involved nor of the African Union or the United Nations."
Patrick Mazimhaka, the deputy chairperson of the AU, said in an interview published in the Financial Times this week that an opportunity to foster stability in Somalia after years of war was being squandered.
This comes as Ethiopian troops who assisted the transitional government in December in ousting the Islamic courts from the capital Mogadishu and much of the rest of Southern Somalia, started withdrawing from the country, causing fears of a security vacuum.
"With every day that passes without a clear commitment to help the AU in Somalia, an opportunity is being squandered," Mazimhaka was quoted as saying.
The AU Peace and Security Council agreed to the deployment of the nearly 8000 troops as part of the African Mission to Somalia.
Angola, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia and Zambia have all been asked to supply soldiers to help bring stability to Somalia.
Source: Sapa, Jan 26, 2007