Nyanda hesitates to send troops to Burundi

South African National Defence Force (SANDF) chief Siphiwe Nyanda says he will advise the government against sending troops to take part in a proposed African peacekeeping mission in Burundi before all sides in the conflict have agreed to such a force coming in, the ‘Cape Argus’ said on Tuesday. Nyanda said he had not been informed directly of any proposal to send such an African peacekeeping force to Burundi, although he had read about it in the press and knew of the defence ministers’ meeting in South Africa. He said that if it was ordered to take part in such a mission, the SANDF would naturally obey. “When this sort of thing was suggested before, we advised against getting into any situation where there was no prior agreement among the warring parties,” Nyanda said. He said the SANDF did not feel it had the peacekeeping experience to go into a conflict where there was no agreement and to try to enforce peace.