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Defe nce minister Mosioua Lekota says government has not received any formal request to deploy peacekeeping troops in the war-torn Liberia.

Minister Lekota told journalists during a post-Cabinet meeting briefing in Pretoria this morning that South African troops were thinly spread as they were engaged in other missions around the continent.

The minister said though South Africa could not distance itself from the Liberian situation, the West African region ought to play a leading role in ensuring peace and security in Liberia.

“It only seems to us reasonable that countries within that region should play a greater role than ourselves,” he said.

Minister Lekota added that South Africa could not afford to overstretch its capacity as it already had committed troops in peace keeping and monitoring missions in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

He said South Africa therefore needed to build sufficient resources because: “If you overload a car it will overturn very easily”.

The minister explained that South African troops had never been involved in the United Nations’ peace support operations prior to the democratic dispensation in 1994 and thus, they ought to garner experience in various fields related to missions of such nature.

“The men and women who get sent out there have to be trained properly in various issues including international law, capturing war prisoners, dealing with refugees and all those processes take a lot of time,” he said.

He said government made contributions premised on its capabilities.

Fighting between Liberian government forces and the rebel group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd), has been going on for more than four years.

Lurd fighters launched their attacks in a bid to remove President Charles Taylor from power. 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 the capital, Monrovia.

In recent days, fighting escalated once more leaving hundreds of civilians dead with government only in control of half of the country.

President Taylor has been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal Court based in Hague, Switzerland, for a variety of crimes against humanity spanning over a 14-year period.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has offered him asylum so an interim administration can take over in a bid to restore normality in Liberia. – BuaNews.

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