South Africa will decide before the end of the week whether or not to send troops to Somalia as part of an African Union peacekeeping mission in that country, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Wednesday.
He said the issue is being discussed at the Cabinet lekgotla (meeting) being held at the Presidential Guesthouse in Pretoria.
”We briefed the Cabinet about the situation in Somalia and the minister of defence [Mosiuoa Lekota] will in the next day or two advise the president about our capacity and already stretched commitments,” Pahad said.
He said President Thabo Mbeki is expected to take a decision on the matter before the end of the week.
Patrick Mazimhaka, deputy chairperson of the AU, said in an interview published in the Financial Times that an opportunity to foster stability in Somalia after years of war is being squandered.
This comes as Ethiopian troops, who assisted the transitional government in December in ousting the Islamic courts from 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 8 000 troops as part of the African Mission to Somalia.
Only two countries, Malawi and Uganda, have so far pledged to provide troops for the mission. — Sapa