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Pres
ident Thabo Mbeki's office and the defence ministry yesterday
night said no decision had been made yet to deploy South African
peacekeepers to strife-torn Liberia.
Spokespersons Bheki Khumalo and Sam Mkhwanazi were commenting after
a remark by Ghana's president, John Kufuor, at a ceremony marking
the transfer of Liberia's presidency from Charles Taylor to his
vice-president, Moses Blah.
Kufuor told 300 dignitaries, including Mbeki, that South Africa
would contribute troops to a Nigerian-led West African peacekeeping
force already deployed there to separate warring factions.
Mkhwanazi said the question of deploying peacekeepers to Liberia
was still being discussed at a political level.
South Africa earlier this month said it was considering a United
Nations request to provide troops.
Namibia yesterday offered a two battalion, 1 500 strong, contingent
to serve with a UN force in Liberia.
Bangladesh has already pledged a brigade of between 3 000 and 5 000
soldiers to police the troubled west African state's peace
process.
Around 700 Nigerian peacekeepers are already bringing a measure of
calm to the country, where rebels have fought a three-year campaign
to overthrow Taylor.
A US naval task force of three ships and 3 000 US Marines yesterday
moved to within sight of Monrovia.
Reports quoted a US defence official in Washington as saying the
three amphibious ships were meant to send "a powerful message" to
Liberia's warring factions.
The official added that Washington had no plans to send the troops
ashore for now.
They were, however, ready to provide logistical support to the
Nigerian Ecomil peacekeeping force ashore.
A detachment of South African special forces accompanied Mbeki to
Liberia to beef up the president's security while in the civil
war-torn state.
Mbeki left Monrovia for Abuja, Nigeria shortly after the
ceremony.
He was expected to return to South Africa today.
South Africa already had about 2 700 troops assigned to
peacekeeping in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi
and about 500 more were scheduled to deploy to the DRC soon.
A number of analysts have cited personnel, cost and equipment
constraints as preventing the SA National Defence Force of 60 000
from deploying many more.
For every one soldier deployed, another three were required at home
- one in reserve, one preparing for the mission and one resting
after having returned. South African peacekeepers are rotated every
six months.
In addition, the bulk of any modern military is today involved in
supporting operationally deployable troops.
While ratios differ, one rule-of-thumb some defence specialists
quote is ten support troops for every soldier deployed. –
Sapa.