S. Africa says its troops not stranded in Sudan

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) on Thursday denied a press report that SA peacekeeping troops were left in the lurch in Darfur, Sudan.

The SANDF said it was deeply concerned by the misleading and irresponsible media report, which indicated that the soldiers are waiting for a chartered aircraft to bring them home.

The Johannesburg-based TimesLive quoted Pikkie Greeff, general secretary of the SA National Defence Union, as saying that the union had been inundated with calls for assistance from troops in Sudan.

"They have received no word about when or how they are being airlifted, with their situation apparently becoming dire," Greeff said.

The SANDF refuted Greeff's claim, saying "There is no ounce of factual truth in the article".

"The article is viewed as a poor ploy to incite panic and alarm for families, friends and loved ones of the deployed men and women of the SANDF by the sources quoted in it, and should be treated with the utmost contempt it deserves," it added.

The article is laden with distorted facts on general matters regarding the SANDF's deployment in Sudan, spokesperson Jaco Theunissen said.

The intention of the scribe and the innuendo of Greeff's sources is in this regard highly questionable, said Theunissen.

The SANDF would like to assure South Africans that members of the SANDF who are in Darfur are sound and well under the auspices of the United Nations (UN), said the spokesperson.

South Africa has 850 soldiers serving in Darfur on a rotational basis as part of the joint African Union and United Nation Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), which is tasked to help quell violence in the region.

Members of the SANDF were employed in Darfur in 2008.

In February this year, President Jacob Zuma ordered the SANDF members to be withdrawn. This termination is effective from April 1, according to a presidential decree.

"The SANDF reiterates that all planning for the withdrawal of SANDF troops and assets from Sudan is underway as determined by the relevant entities or authorities," Theunissen added.

Source: Xinhua