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Nigeria, South Africa to Deploy Troops to Burundi
The Nigerian government has announced that Nigeria and South Africa will send troops to Burundi to mediate in the peace process in the war-torn country, local media reported on Tuesday.
Nigerian Minister of Defense Lieutenant General Theophilus Danjma and Chief of Defense Staff Vice Admiral Ibrahim Ogohi made the announcements when they separately received visiting General S. Nyanda, Chief of Staff of South African National Defense Staff, on Monday in the capital Abuja.
Danjma was quoted as saying that Nigeria will work alongside South Africa to ensure that peace returned to the strife-torn country.
Burundi has been wracked by civil war since 1993 when the first democratically elected President Melchior Ndadaye, a Hutu, was assassinated by Tutsi troops. More than 200,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in the fighting, with 1.2 million others displaced.
Danjuma said Nigeria and South Africa will work together in Burundi as soon as the ongoing peace talks yielded dividends, adding that this will provide the opportunity for the military of the two countries to collaborate.
Meanwhile, Ogohi noted that as Africa's main economic and political powers, both South Africa and Nigeria have a lot to learn from each other, explaining that the area of peacekeeping, South Africa has a lot to learn from Nigeria, just as Nigeria has a lot to learn from South Africa.
He said Nigeria's experience in peacekeeping can be shared with the South Africans, adding that the West African country had the largest contingent in the peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone.
In his response, Nyanda, who disclosed that he is making his first official visit to Nigeria, said he is in the West African country to lay the basis for future cooperation between the two countries.
"Nigeria is an important player in the politics of West Africa, we are also an important player in Southern Africa, we have a lot to learn from Nigeria in peacekeeping, we are new in it," said the South African military chief.
On the participation of South Africa in peacekeeping operations, Nyanda said it is not true to say that his country was not involved in the effort to resolve the crisis, stressing that currently South Africa has deployed about 100 personnel as observers in Eritrea.
He said that if South Africa is asked to intervene in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it would do so.
There is no limit to the cooperation between Nigeria and South Africa, which are enjoying excellent relations, he added.
Nyanda is on a two-day official visit to the West African country to implement follow-up of the agreements signed by the two countries in March in Nigeria's capital Abuja.
The agreements, focusing on areas of bilateral cooperation of police affairs, agriculture, defense, science and technology, and arts and culture, ensure the two sides to set up the strategic alliance partnership on the continent.
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