Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

Peace takes heavy toll on SA's army Other arms of SANDF less stretched Political Correspondent WHILE an 85-member contingent of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) leaves for a new peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, analysts question the army's ability to sustain such deployments.

Last week the cabinet approved the deployment of the soldiers to the Central Africa Republic, where they will strengthen the local defence force, under an agreement between the two countries.

Peacekeeping is one of the key priorities of the SANDF, which has deployed about 3000 personnel for this purpose in the past four years, mainly in Africa. But retired Major-General Len le Roux, head of the defence sector programme at the Institute of Security Studies, said there was a limit to what the army could sustain over time. For the size of the country, this is a pretty big commitment. Le Roux said the army's deployments into Africa were often three times the level envisaged in the 1996 defence white paper and 1998 defence review.

Army chief General Solly Shoke conceded this month that the army was overstretched, in need of more people and a bigger budget. The army shouldered a bigger burden in peacekeeping than other units of the defence force. Under its rejuvenation programme, the army would take in 3000 new recruits next year, rising to 7000 in 2009, said Shoke, who expected a bigger role for the army in non-military and peacekeeping operations.

A recent report says Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad has hinted at increasing the number of South African troops in Darfur, Sudan, from the present 600.

Le Roux said the army's commitments have grown, yet it has been last on the list, behind the air force and navy, in equipment renewal and capital investment. Almost a quarter of the army is estimated to be infected with HIV. The army also has a skewed rank-profile, with too many older, less deployable, soldiers in the junior ranks. The army's conventional reserve has dwindled due to lack of incentives, investment and training; and the territorial reserve the commandos have been closed down because of a misunderstanding of the fundamental function of territorial forces, Le Roux says.

The incorrect perception that the commandos existed only for peacetime policing and to serve the interests of a minority white rural community had resulted in the disbandment of one of the critical means of feeding the army with the right people, he said.

Of the defence force's deployments, the largest is in the Democratic Republic of Congo where about 1400 soldiers are participating in the UN peacekeeping mission. Another 700 are in Burundi, protecting returning exiles and training the local VIP protection units. Smaller numbers are in the Comoros, Cote d'Ivoire, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda and Nepal.

The deployment to the Central African Republic follows the authorisation this month of a UN-led international force in eastern Chad and northeastern Central African Republic. The objective is to protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian aid to the multitudes displaced in the two countries and in neighbouring Sudan.

Since February last year, there has been fighting in the Central African Republic between government and rebel forces. Thousands of civilians fled to neighbouring Chad, while government troops have been reported to have taken reprisals on those who stayed.