For more on the unfolding CAR
Zuma to join an emergency summit to discuss latest events
THE future of South Africa’s military involvement in the troubled Central African Republic is likely to be decided at an emergency meeting of regional leaders on Tuesday next week.
President Jacob Zuma’s office has confirmed that he will be flying to Chad on Tuesday for a meeting with leaders of the central African region at which the security situation in the CAR would be discussed.
The emergency summit has been convened by Chad’s president, Idriss Deby Itno, in his capacity as the chairman of the Economic Community of Central African States.
The regional body is made up of Chad, the CAR, Gabon, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea.
In a statement yesterday, Zuma’s spokesman, Mac Maharaj, said the president would be ac- companied by Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele. Among issues for the meeting is the political stabilisation of the country following a rebel uprising that led to CAR president François Bozizé flee- ing the country and 13 South African soldiers being killed in combat.
Although South African authorities insist that the South African National Defence Force ’ s involvement in the CAR was above board and with the blessing of the African Union and the central African region, public statements made by rebel leader Michel Djotodia, whose grouping is now in charge of the country, suggest that he wants South African troops out of the country as soon as possible.
He was reported to have told journalists on Friday that he would ask the French and the US governments to replace
I don t think the debate is whether South Africa should be involved or not . . . There is no prize for peace
South Africans in training CAR soldiers.
Djotodia also revealed plans to review all the mining contracts awarded to South African and Chinese companies during Bozizé’s tenure, because many of them were “badly done”.
Defence Ministry spokesman Sonwabo Mbananga said the government ’ s position was still that the troops would remain in the CAR, but he conceded that this may change as a result of a new government taking power.
“The reality is that there is a new political process that is unfolding in the CAR. As the president said, we have no intention of [leaving] the CAR. That means our future in the CAR will be determined by a political process that will be unfolding.”
Mbananga insisted that there was nothing wrong with SANDF soldiers being deployed to the CAR on their own and not as part of an AU process, as is normal with other conflicts.
“Countries, as sovereign entities, can act in structures like the Southern African Development Community . . . But also countries, in driving their national interest and their foreign policies, can enter into bilateral agreements at country-to-country level. There’s no anomaly there — it happens anywhere.”
Earlier in the week, NkoanaMashabane told the Sunday Times that the death of 13 soldiers in the CAR would not lead to a review of South Africa’s involvement in peacekeeping missions across the continent.
“I wish we had that choice, but do we? I don’t think the debate in the country is whether South Africa should be involved or not . . . There is no prize for peace... For Africa to be fully developed, we are going to have to remain peaceful and secure.
“We have to continue marching on. We will continue consulting; we can’t wake up one morning saying we are abandoning this ... in place of what? ” she said.