Thu Oct 7, 2010 9:54PM
South African International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane
South Africa's foreign minister says his country will not deploy troops to Somalia, stressing that the move is not a priority for Pretoria.
It is not the "first priority for South Africa" to send troops to Somalia The East African quoted South African International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane as saying.
She made the remarks at a Wednesday meeting with the European Union's Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton in capital Pretoria.
The South African government has been under increasing international pressure to play a role in the Horn of Africa nation.
South Africa has sent a delegation to a ministerial conference on Somali piracy, which began Thursday in Mauritius.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Over the past two decades, up to one million Somalis have lost their lives in fighting between rival factions and as a result of famine and disease.
MSD/AKM/MB
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