While the South African soccer team regained their pride by beating Burundi 2-0 in Bujumbura, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) troops, stationed in the capital, were making steady progress at helping to stabilise the war-torn country and at the same time doing South Africa proud.
In Bujumbura for the soccer, I spent time with the SANDF troops — many attended the match and were overjoyed to meet their soccer heroes.
The crossfire between Hutu rebel forces and the SANDF that left four rebels dead on June 30 had raised a few alarm bells in South Africa. It has been labelled as potentially the most dangerous situation our troops have faced since the 1994 election campaign in South Africa.
However, according to SANDF Colonel Xolani Mankayi: ”Considering the difficult and, at times, volatile situation we are facing here, South Africans should be proud of the way our troops are going about their duties and what we have achieved thus far in trying to keep the peace. Our approach is always to negotiate and do things in a calm manner and help stop the civil war. So far we have made steady headway and I believe we have surprised a few people with our progress.”
It hasn’t all been easy going in the country that has been ravaged by civil war since 1993, when Tutsi paratroopers assassinated the country’s first democratically elected president, Melchior Ndadaye, a Hutu.
The strain on several of the troops’ faces are noticeable after four or five months of trying to disarm rebel forces and keep the peace in a country where an estimated 300 000 civilians have been killed in the past decade.
Cape Town-born Lieutenant Eugene Herandien was at the cantonment area where the crossfire took place, about 19km from the military camp in Bujumbura.
”I act as an operations officer here and deal with the administration side of things at the cantonment. At the moment our aim is to disarm and demobilise the rebels and keep them in the cantonment area for a number of months until we can start the process of integration,” Herandien explained.
”Our prime focus right now is to secure the cantonment and liaise with the rebels.”
Thus far, the SANDF has secured roughly 160 rebels in the cantonment area after transporting two bus loads full of rebels on July 4 from the rural areas to the cantonment in Muyange, which is so far the only so-called military camp operational in Burundi.
Said Herandien: ”We are proud of what we have achieved here. Yes our hearts long for home … it is a long time to be here and it makes us very happy to see fellow South Africans here for the soccer.”
”It is hectic, though. We have taken mainly AK-47 machine guns and rocket launchers from the rebels who have entered the cantonment.”
Then he added: ”Many young kids form part of these rebel groups. It is serious stuff. In the day time these guys can be normal civilians and at night they are rebels … it is very difficult to tell who is who.”
Neil Greig is the deputy editor of KickOff magazine