Pretoria — Three African countries - South Africa, Ethiopia and Mozambique - are set to deploy troops next week to the troubled Burundi to help with monitoring the implementation of the recently struck ceasefire deal between the Burundian government and rebel armed forces.
Addressing the Johannesburg Press Club this afternoon, mediator in the Burundian conflict and South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, said the three nations would be sending a joint force to the Great Lakes country, saying the matter was urgent.
He said Africa could no longer afford conflicts as they interfered with the region's development and prosperity.
'War and conflict cannot exist side by side with development and peace,' said the mediator.
Mr Zuma's remarks follows the meeting with Burundian President Pierre Buyoya and rebel leader Pierre Nkurunziza, over the weekend in Pretoria, regarding the implementation phase of the pact which has been widely hailed by the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU).
Asked how much the country was paying towards the deployment of the force, Mr Zuma said it was too early to speculate as costs could be determined by how the UN and AU could contribute to the mission.
He further added that benefits for investing in peace far outweighed investing in conflicts that ultimately led to disaster and backwardness.
In 2001, under the captaincy of former President Nelson Mandela, a three-year transitional government was established in Burundi in a bid to bring to a halt a ten-year old war that had claimed about a quarter of a million of civilian lives.
The transitional government was to be led by a Tutsi President for the first 18 months and then passed on to a Hutu president for the next 18 months. -
SA government pledges regional aid
REP By David Masango and Candace Freeman tel: (012) 314 2230
In a bid to curb the persisting food shortage in southern Africa, the South African government today announced a R170-million pledge towards the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
Department of Agriculture director-general (DG) Bongiwe Njobe made the announcement at a media briefing held in Rosebank, near Johannesburg, today.
Ms Njobe said the donation formed part of government's allocation of R400-million for the next three years for food security and poverty alleviation in South Africa and other regional countries affected by famine.
'We as government cannot concentrate solely on feeding our own nation when our neighbours are starving and dying of hunger each day. Fifteen million lives are currently threatened by famine in southern Africa, and we are confirming publicly our pledge to do the best we can to help,' she said.
The funds are to be used for the purchase of 100 000 metric tons of maize to be distributed to millions of vulnerable people in southern Africa.
'This enormous donation comes at a crucial time for the WFP's operations in southern Africa and will undoubtedly help millions of men, women and children to cope with food shortages in the months ahead - the most acute period of hunger until the harvest arrives in April/May,' said WFP executive director James T Morris.
WFP's emergency food operation aims to feed starving people in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The pledge brought the agency's donations to 85 percent of its total tonnage requirements of one million tons of food.
The SA government has in the past aided the WFP with the milling of maize in SA for distribution to Lesotho and Zimbabwe.
