Mbeki agrees to send troops to Liberia

President Thabo Mbeki's decision to provide military support for peacekeeping operations in Liberia is seen as a reinforcement of South Africa's strategic role on the continent. President Mbeki's spokesman, Bheki Khumalo, confirmed to IRIN on Wednesday that "we are sending troops to Liberia". He said the defence force was "currently working on a cabinet document that will outline" details such as the numbers of personnel to be deployed in Liberia and the operational timetable. "These things are still being worked on, and then the matter will have to go to parliament [for approval]," Khumalo explained. Mbeki was one of three African leaders who attended Monday's ceremony at which Charles Taylor relinquished power in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, the others being Mozambique's Joaquim Chissano, the current chairman of the African Union (AU), and John Kufuor of Ghana. Khumalo said South Africa wanted to commit troops to support the peace process because "Liberia represents everything that is wrong with the continent - we cannot allow that conflict to carry on". Appeals for troop assistance from the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the AU had helped to sway Mbeki. After such appeals the president felt "he would have to comply" and be part of "an African solution to an African problem", Khumalo said. Analyst John Stremlau, head of the Department of International Affairs at South Africa's University of the Witwatersrand, told IRIN that Mbeki's decision was "a reinforcement of South Africa's strategic approach to Africa". South Africa's increased political and military interventions in the continent have also served to broaden the country's influence in Africa: in recent times South Africa has brokered peace deals in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, backing these up with troop deployments to support the processes. However, some South African opposition parties have raised concern that the defence force was being stretched too thin, and questioned whether the taxpayer was being asked to foot too high a bill for the country's involvement in peace missions. Stremlau suspects that any deployment in Liberia would be limited to a "defined role that is affordable" for South Africa, with the primary aim of "backstopping the ECOWAS forces". He added that the "symbolic importance of South African participation justifies stretching the defence force". Mbeki's presence in Monrovia on Monday had leant "his personal prestige and the support of the country" to the process in Liberia. "So he could not walk away from a request for support of the peacekeeping operations. There's also strategic logic in doing something, as long as it is visible and politically significant," Stremlau commented. Khumalo added that "if we are to have peace on the continent, we must be prepared to spend part of our resources [on peace missions]". South Africa would also seek financial support for peace missions from "the countries in the north and multi-lateral organisations" such as the European Union and the UN.