Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota and his counterparts from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region had an unscheduled meeting in Cape Town on Tuesday to discuss growing tensions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
”It is a short agenda with momentous consequences,” Lekota said, stating that the finalisation of the SADC standby brigade has become urgent.
As chairperson of the SADC’s interstate defence and security council, Lekota said he called the ”unscheduled meeting” to examine the implementation of the peace process in the DRC and Great Lakes region.
”We need to exchange views on the finalisation of the SADC brigade of the African standby forces,” he said, noting that the security situation in the eastern DRC will be urgently scrutinised.
He said the SADC is becoming increasingly involved in ”theatres of conflict” and the brigade will ensure that this responsibility is carried as a collective and not left to individual countries.
Lekota has in the past argued that South Africa’s peacekeeping capacity is stretched to the limit. The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has embarked on aggressive recruitment drives to boost numbers.
He refused to divulge if the meeting also discussed a stepping-up of activity by the United Nations’s Monuc force in the DRC, or if the SADC brigade, once formed, will be deployed in the DRC.
Department of Defence spokesperson Vuyo Zambodla said the main drive of the meeting was to try to define a ”collective approach” to the DRC and how best to move forward.
He said discussions were scheduled to last for two days.
Violence continued to keep tensions high in the DRC, which due to a lack of infrastructure development over the past 30 years is seen as a logistical nightmare.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan last Thursday called for reinforcements for UN peacekeeping troops in the DRC following an upsurge in violence after a deadly ambush by local militias.
On February 25, nine UN peacekeepers, all Bangladeshi troops, were slain in the DRC’s volatile Ituri region.
”I hope, over time, we’ll be able to strengthen the forces [in the DRC] and that we will get the support from the [Security] Council,” Annan told reporters two days after the UN launched an attack with armoured vehicles and an attack helicopter against militia, killing 50.
South Africa already has 1 348 SANDF members operating under the UN mandate in Operation Mistral, and a further 79 members working with the DRC government under Operation Teutonic.
However, South Africa may be called upon to increase its strength in the region.
Annan said last week that the DRC is ”a very large country” and the number of troops it has ”may not be adequate.”
”But we are doing the best we can with what we’ve got,” he lamented. — Sapa