Pretoria explains Burundi role

South Africa had not yet decided whether it would send troops to Burundi if a ceasefire was not first reached, a senior government official told IRIN this week. “The position of Deputy President Jacob Zuma, who assists chief negotiator former (SA) president Nelson Mandela, is that all avenues should be explored to achieve a cessation of hostilities and ceasefire agreement between the Government of the Republic of Burundi and the two armed groups opposed to the government,” the deputy president’s spokesperson, Lakela Kaunda, said.

Recently Zuma said that South Africa may consider deploying troops to Burundi even if no ceasefire was in place. Shortly before Zuma’s statements, South African National Defence Force (SANDF) chief General Siphiwe Nyanda said he was not in favour of sending troops to Burundi before there was an effective ceasefire. He did, however, add that he would have to if “the politicians” ordered him to do so.

Jan Van Eck, an expert on Burundi, recently told IRIN it would be “a big mistake” for South Africa to send troops before an effective ceasefire was in place. “South Africa should only consider going in as part of a United Nations force,” Van Eck said. “We have two large groups in the country that haven’t come to a ceasefire agreement. The country is unstable and if SANDF troops were sent as part of a non-sanctioned UN force or on its own, SANDF troops would have to engage rebel troops, who are well armed and who know the terrain well. This will end-up being a bloody war with South African troops engaged in guerrilla warfare.”

Kaunda said Zuma’s position was that conditions in Burundi would change after 1 November, when the interim government is meant to be installed. “The government of the day will no longer be solely the military government that the armed groups took up arms against, but a government that also includes parties opposed to the government of President Pierre Buyoya,” she said. “This is also expected to create more favourable conditions for negotiations and the process of moving towards democracy. The deputy president also believes that this will diminish the reasons for the armed groups to continue the armed struggle.”