Cabinet has reaffirmed its principled agreement to a United Nations request to send peacekeeping troops to war-torn Liberia to help restore normality in the once-prosperous West African country.

Following its meeting in Pretoria yesterday, Cabinet said however a final determination on any troop deployment and/or any other kind of contribution would be made once details have been furnished by the relevant departments.

Government agreed in principle to send troops to Liberia after former president Charles Taylor stepped-down to make way for his deputy Moses Blah earlier this month. Deputy foreign affairs minister Aziz Pahad has said government has to go through various structures such as Cabinet and Parliament and has to tackle other issues such as capacity prior to the expected deployment. This, he said, was because of South Africa’s involvement in other peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi. He said President Thabo Mbeki had already indicated that government was willing to assist and would determine the capacity within which it would have to carry out its assistance.

“We have given in principle that we will participate. The date it will be depended on the report from defence minister (Mosiuoa Lekota) to Cabinet,” Pahad said.

Already, the Economic Community Of West African States (Ecowas), Namibia, Bangladesh, Pakistan and to a lesser extent, the US, have committed troops to Liberia.

Calm has since descended on the capital Monrovia as Liberians welcomed US marines who joined Nigerian peacekeepers in taking control of the capital.

During the ceremony to handover power in Monrovia, Mbeki said South Africa supported peace efforts in the troubled West African nation. This would include supporting the setting up of a transitional government of national unity, set to take office in October from incumbent President Blah. The move would later lead to inclusive elections in Africa's oldest nation founded by freed American slaves in 1822.

The diamond-rich nation has been involved in a warfare that erupted more than 10 years ago in a power struggle that was aimed at ousting Taylor.

The fighting escalated last year, when insurgents took over a significant part of the country and staged hit-and-run attacks within 25 km of Monrovia. Taylor, who has been indicted by the international criminal tribunal for war crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone spanning more than a 14-year period, was under international pressure especially from the US to vacate office and he is now exiled in Nigeria where President Olusegun Obasanjo provided him asylum. – BuaNews.