Forces at work to chase SANDF from the DRC
Ambassador encourages troops to serve
If we didn’t do things the way we did at home, the world would be lost Abel Shilubane
SA ambassador to the DRC
THE presence of the South African army in the rebel-prone Democratic Republic of the Congo was “disturbing a lot of people” who had ulterior motives, said the country’s ambassador to the DRC, Abel Shilubane.
Addressing members of the SANDF during the Goodwill Parcel Project at the UN base in Kinshasa this week, Shilubane said the DRC had a “difficult” 12 months last year, especially before the general elections.
Shilubane encouraged the South African soldiers to serve their mission with integrity and honesty as principles espoused by Nelson Mandela, saying that South Africa enjoyed some degree of “soft power” for being an honest body in stabilising governments in Africa.
“We learn from ourselves. If we didn’t do things the way we did at home, the world would be lost, they would not have a reference. Your presence here is disturbing a lot of people,” Shilubane said.
“There is a discussion now whether the intention of the Monusco (UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC) will be for one year or six months. This is a battle between the big bosses. The police say we must stay, but if we stay, who carries the bill?”
Master Chief Warrant Officer Mothusi Kgaladi concurred with Shilubane that there were forces hard at work to dislodge the South African peacekeeping mission in the DRC, but urged his soldiers to be disciplined.
“There are people who are not happy about the presence of this force in this country because you represent interests that are diametrically opposed to what they stand for.
“And now there is a campaign, very subtle, and at times very overt, to try and dissuade this defence force and do everything (to show) that you are not one of the players here,” Kgaladi said.
“Among other things that they do, and the mud that they throw at us, luckily it does not stick.”
Shilubane said questions had been raised back home about some South African politicians’ motives and the conduct of its soldiers deployed under the Monusco.
He said South Africa was an “honest broker” of peace in the DRC and it would continue to manage conflict in the country until peace was restored.
“We have been an honest broker in the Congo. People know that we are an honest broker and this was proven during the December elections,” Shilubane said.
“We are one of the few countries that stood up and said we could give the Congolese the opportunity to decide what they wanted to do.”
The Congolese went to the polls on December 30 – the third democratic election for the country since it gained independence from Belgium in 1960.
After much controversy, Felix Tshisekedi was declared winner with 38.5% of the vote.
“I must confess, we had a difficult year last year, on a daily basis, trying to predict and guess with all the scenarios what was going to happen. We were lucky we got it right.
“The Congolese never became violent during and after the elections. But we are told the Congolese are very violent, all they know is war,” Shilubane said, adding that this was not the case.