Africa has no choice but to help bring peace to war-torn Somalia, President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday, but did not pronounce on whether South Africa was to contribute troops to any such effort.
”For the sake both of Somalia and our continent as a whole, Africa has no choice but to come to the aid of this sister African country,” he said in his first weekly newsletter for 2007, published on his party’s ANC Today website.
Mbeki said Somalia had, over time, fallen apart and ceased to exist as a viable state.
”This has led to the eventuality that, as the year 2007 began, Somalia put itself firmly at the top of the African Agenda.”
While it is true Somalia remains an independent state, it has, for the past 15 years, been the victim of a protracted internal conflict.
This has ”resulted in the collapse of the state, the death of an estimated one million Somalis, the emigration of thousands as refugees, and the impoverishment of millions as a result of severe and sustained socio-economic regression”.
Complicating the situation in that country, ”allegations have now been made that international terrorist groups have established themselves in Somalia”.
Mbeki was apparently referring to United States air strikes earlier this week, carried out against suspected al-Qaeda groups within Somalia.
Earlier on Friday, a South African foreign affairs official, speaking on condition of anonymity, was reported to have said South Africa is hesitant to send troops to Somalia.
The official said sending troops to Somalia might result in South Africa being seen as fighting the US’s war on terror, and that any peacekeeping there would lose credibility.
A call has been made on African countries to provide 8 000 troops to help with peacekeeping in the country.
Ibrahim Gambari, the United Nations undersecretary general for political affairs, said earlier this week that while no countries have made commitments, several nations are considering sending personnel.
He named Nigeria, South Africa and Malawi as countries considering sending troops.
Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was reported on Tuesday as saying South Africa has not yet been asked to contribute forces.
”Usually we don’t cross bridges until we come to them. We will wait for that request,” she reportedly said at the time.
Mbeki said Somalia has turned into a ”source of regional instability” at a time when the African Union is intensifying its efforts to ensure Africa becomes a continent of peace.
”In many respects the deeply entrenched Somali crisis demonstrates what can happen to many of our countries if they are not governed and managed in a manner that addresses the interests of all citizens, bearing in mind the national specifics of each country,” he said. — Sapa