A FIRST contingent of South African soldiers taking part in a multi-national force to protect exiled political leaders returning to Burundi arrived in Bujumbura on Sunday. The soldiers, dressed in full combat gear, arrived in the Burundian capital at 2:00 pm local time after a three-hour flight from the Waterkloof military base near Pretoria. The 240 soldiers, most of them logistics and technical support specialists, are the first group of a total of 700 South Africa troops who will be deployed in Burundi by November 1, when a transitional power-sharing government is due to be implemented there. The first group’s mission will be to set up the South African headquarters and camp in Burundi, a South African military representative said. – AFP