Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

An SA [South Africa] National Defence Force delegation led by Surgeon-General Rinus Jansen van Rensburg returned home on Thursday [9 December] from a goodwill visit to the Great Lakes region.

The two-day visit was to soldiers deployed as peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi.

Speaking at the South African bases, Van Rensburg praised the soldiers for the sacrifices they were making, saying their peace efforts were greatly commendable and acknowledged by the international community.

"This makes South Africa well respected. Your willingness to serve these neighbouring countries which have been ravaged by war is commendable and we salute you," he said.

He thanked the families of soldiers for letting them spend Christmas in foreign lands instead of spending it with them at home in South Africa.

The goodwill visit was sponsored by ABSA [Amalgamated Banks of South Africa], Sanlam [financial services group] and SAMI-SAFI [expansion untraced], and the delegation included SANDF [South African National Defence Force] personnel, businessmen and journalists.

Through the project gifts were presented to the soldiers at their bases in Kirundi and Kinshasa in the DRCongo, and Burundi, in the form of a bag and a booklet called "Why Jesus" from a Christian organization.

The trip was not trouble-free. The flight was stranded in Lusaka when it stopped to refuel on Tuesday [7 December]. Due to miscommunication between the airliner and Zambia's joint security personnel, the plane was not immediately allowed to leave the country.

The flight needed a clearance to proceed as it was registered as a business flight but had been found by Zambian authorities to be carrying soldiers.

Van Rensburg said this was understandable. The authorities had acted in this manner for security reasons and had handled the matter efficiently and professionally. The plane was delayed by four hours.

Most of the soldiers deployed to the Great Lakes areas will return to South Africa next year in May. Replacement soldiers will then be deployed in the Great Lakes.

But while it would not be easy for these soldiers to spend Christmas without their loved ones most of them were happy to serve their country in peace-keeping duties.

A young female sergeant, whose name tag read McClain, said it was an honour for her to be deployed in Kinshasa, even though her mother had initially opposed it. As a female soldier involved in such a mission, she had encountered problems with discrimination but said these had been sorted out.

Major Vivian Chamers, who has been at the Kinshasa base since November last year, said spending Christmas away from his family would be bearable as he had taken leave earlier in the year.

Asked about reports of misconduct by South African soldiers, Chamers said these were often exaggerated. "When young soldiers come here they find it difficult to be away from their families, and would then try to have a good time. Ultimately everyone is trying to do their best here."

When the delegation was driven in a troop convoy to the bases, the trust that South African soldiers had earned among the locals was evident.

Chamers said: "They are positive towards us because they understand that we are fighting the system which is causing the war and they also see South Africa as a good model."

Sergeant Ernest Rapiya disagreed, saying some of the population did not understand why the South African troops were there and that language was a barrier to good relations. However, many other soldiers seemed to be conversant in local languages such as Swahili.

Sergeant Moegamad Kariem, 26, who had previously been deployed to Goma in the eastern DRCongo, said being away from home was probably less difficult for him because he was single. He said he had enjoyed serving in Goma because it was much like Cape Town.

Last week, civilians fled clashes in the eastern part of the DRCongo, amid Western claims that Rwandan troops were operating in the area.

This was after Rwandan president Paul Kagame warned that his country would act against 8,000 to 10,000 Rwandan Hutu rebels taking shelter in the eastern DRCongo.

The South African ambassador to Kinshasa, Sisa Ngombane, was part of the goodwill delegation. He told Sapa it appeared that such elements were there but that the DRCongo government and the joint peace forces were addressing the problem.

Rwanda has twice invaded the DRCongo, in 1996 and 1998, to hunt down Rwandan Hutu rebels believed responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.