SOUTH AFRICA: DECISION TO SEND TROOPS TO LESOTHO DEFENDED скачать в хорошем качестве

SOUTH AFRICA: DECISION TO SEND TROOPS TO LESOTHO DEFENDED

(22 Sep 1998) English/Nat South Africa has defended its decision to send troops into neighbouring Lesotho. In its first military operation since the end of apartheid, South African forces entered the tiny kingdom, after the government called for help to deal with a growing state of anarchy. The unrest follows weeks of unrest in Lesotho involving opposition party demonstrations over allegations of election-rigging, and an army rebellion that had effectively paralysed the government. In Pretoria on Tuesday, it fell to South Africa's minister for safety and security to defend the decision to send troops into neighbouring Lesotho. For minister Sydney Mufamadi -- and for Nelson Mandela's government -- the escalating anarchy in the tiny mountainous neighbour is a matter of intense concern. SOUNDBITE: (English) "The mutineers are in charge of matter military . The government of the ruling party cannot give them orders. People are doing all sorts of things, demonstrating in the streets, hijacking government cars, creating a situation of ungovernability and the police are paralysed in that they are not acting at all." SUPER CAPTION: Sydney Mufamadi, South African Minister of Safety and Security The decision to send in the 600 South African soldiers is tied to the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional group chaired by South Africa. It's the same partnership that already has South Africa embroiled in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it joins Namibia, Angola and Zimbabwe in trying bolster Laurent Kabila's government. But the South African soldiers who died fighting Lesotho rebels on Tuesday were the first to be killed on active service since 1994. According to army sources at least 10 South African soldiers died in just one assault. SOUNDBITE: (English) "The forces were sent in to carry out an obligation that we have as a SADC (Southern African Development Community) family, to help stabilise any area within the family at any time they be seen as a flashpoint of problems whose seriousness warrant that kind of intervention. SADC, Lesotho, is not in Latin America, it is in the region, it is a signatory to SADC protocol." SUPER CAPTION: Sydney Mufamadi, South African Minister of Safety and Security Two-hundred troops from Botswana have since arrived at the Lesotho-South African border to join South African forces. SOUNDBITE: (English) "The security situation, if it reaches a certain level of deterioration, they are part of the Lesotho, the agreement that it happens either in Lesotho or anywhere else, we must assume collective responsibility for addressing that situation." SUPER CAPTION: Sydney Mufamadi, South African Minister of Safety and Security Lesotho, an impoverished kingdom with a population of 2 (m) million people, is surrounded by South African territory and is largely dependent on South Africa for jobs and income. But South Africa -- which responded to the Lesotho premier's call for regional powers to intervene -- is stressing that it is taking a stabilising rather than a domineering role. SOUNDBITE: (English) "We are interdependent in many ways and therefore we have joint responsibility to ensure that the independence occurs in a situation of stability. So, yes, the political problems in Lesotho are matters that are to be solved by the Basuto themselves, it is their sovereign right to do so." SUPER CAPTION: Sydney Mufamadi, South African Minister of Safety and Security If more South African troops are injured or killed that criticism will doubtless intensify. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...