Times Live
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu says: "As we sit here now there has not been a specific request to us from the AU to send troops but we did commit ourselves to assisting."
The AU mission, Amisom, has suffered significant fatalities and Uganda this month saw 76 civilians killed in twin bombings in Kampala, carried out by Somalia's al-Shabaab extremists in retaliation for its leading role in the force.
AU leaders this week agreed to boost the 6,000-strong mission, which is also in dire need of equipment, by another 2,000 soldiers.
"It is a very different kind of war," Sisulu said, comparing Somalia to South Africa's longstanding involvement in peacekeeping in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan.
"The South African public would need to understand that this is in another realm."
Deputy Defence Minister Thabang Makwetla pointed out that the existing deployments were peacekeeping missions but that in Somalia, South African troops would find themselves in the role of "peace enforcing" as Amisom tries to shore up the fragile transitional government against insurgents, notably the al-Qaeda linked al-Shabaab.
Sisulu said the matter was with President Jacob Zuma and added that she expected him to deal with it "pretty soon".
He would give Cabinet a report on the possibility of engaging in Somalia and then call in Sisulu, Makwetla and the command of the defence force to weigh the financial and logistical implications of committing troops.
Sisulu was adamant that South Africa would not foot the entire bill of any eventual deployment.
"If we were ever to go to Somalia, it would be a shared responsibility."
The minister said she had no doubt that the South African military was up to the task, but was concerned about whether Pretoria could commit more troops to African missions given its involvement in the DRC, Sudan and the Central African Republic.
Source: Times Live