SOUTH AFRICA : VIP protection troops in Burundi to be withdrawn, says govt

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 7 Sep 2005 (IRIN) - South Africa is to withdraw over 300 troops protecting political leaders in Burundi following peaceful elections last month.

Defence ministry spokesman Sam Mkhwanazi told IRIN on Wednesday the protection unit's mission "had been accomplished".

The deployment of the 376 member VIP protection unit was a bilateral undertaking and not part of a UN peace support mission in Burundi, to which South Africa has also contributed just under 1,000 troops. Those South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers would remain part of the UN mission.

Mkhwanazi said the decision to recall the VIP protection detachment was based on a successful peace process in Burundi, and not because the "SANDF's [capacity] is stretched".

But Jakkie Cilliers, of the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies, said the "SANDF clearly has capacity problems and it needs to prioritise".

"South Africa has made a longstanding and a critical contribution to Burundi. But the UN mission in Burundi cannot be dependent upon South Africa alone and I think it's quite appropriate that South Africa does scale-down in Burundi, particularly the VIP protection unit," he said.

The announcement of the withdrawal of the SA Protection and Support Detachment follows a public row over the capacity of the SANDF, with analysts and opposition leaders arguing that the force was under-resourced and overstretched due to its commitments in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Darfur, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Liberia.

Defence correspondent Helmoed Römer Heitman wrote in a local newspaper that "South Africa's enthusiasm for taking part in African peace support operations was outrunning its capacity".

Defence Minister Lekota has rejected this saying the SANDF had "maintained core capabilities that can be expanded to face possible threats".

Mkhwanazi noted that SANDF deployments abroad were carefully considered before decisions were made.

"The SANDF is being stretched to a certain extent but it's not an issue. There are high demands for us to provide troops [abroad] but with the SADC [Southern African Development Community] brigade being in place ... [troop contributions] will become a shared responsibility for the region and not just one country," he added.

Lekota announced this week that the SADC brigade's structure had been finalised, with member states pledging over 6,000 soldiers to it.

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