Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

SOUTH Africa’s peacekeeping mission in Darfur, Sudan, hangs in the balance as members of the SA Police Service (SAPS) have embarked on a sit-in because their allowances have not been paid for three months.

The police, who members of the African Union mission in Sudan, have dispatched a delegation to the South African embassy in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, in an effort to resolve the pay dispute.

The African Union (AU) is responsible for paying the allowances of the peacekeepers, drawn from several African countries.

The South African government has deployed a contingent that includes 398 SA National Defence Force (SANDF) personnel and 126 SAPS members.

Mission director Daniel Monyane confirmed that the South Africans had downed tools yesterday and begun a sit-in as well as a boycott of all the parades.

“They are very unhappy because they have not been paid their allowances. I have written letters to Addis Ababa (the AU headquarters, in Ethiopia), but have not had a satisfactory response,” Monyane said.

The Cape Times understands that the peacekeepers from Ghana pulled out a month ago following the same problem of non-payment.

One member said the AU had treated the South Africans poorly.

“I am disciplined but we are not being treated well here,” he said.

He said that even senior members stayed in crumbling structures without basic furniture and amenities.

“There is absolutely no co-ordination and the sit-in is a desperate measure to get answers from the AU. People have reached the end of their patience here and others have even threatened to take the AU to court for non-payment.”

The mission was founded in 2004 with 150 members. This number had been increased to the present 7 000 by mid-2005.

The cash-strapped organisation’s mandate in Darfur expired in September, but is continuing as the conflict grows.

The South African portfolio committee on foreign affairs has warned that keeping soldiers in Darfur is not inexpensive and that the country has spent about R100 million out of the SANDF budget.

Kingsley Makhubela, Department of Foreign Affairs chief director for East Africa, warned in March that the AU did not have adequate funds to continue the operation in Darfur and that donor countries were not willing to continue to contribute.