13 SA soldiers killed in CAR

The battle, at Bangui Base, lasted between 13 and 18 hours, Shoke said.

Thirteen SA soldiers were confirmed dead but there was a 14th body, which had not yet been identified. The body might be that of a missing SANDF soldier.
Shoke said the rebels eventually came with a white flag and negotiated surrender.

Twenty-seven South African soldiers were wounded in clashes with rebels who captured the capital Bangui over the weekend, President Jacob Zuma said yesterday.
“During the battle 13 of our soldiers fell, one is unaccounted for,” said Zuma.

South Africa deployed 200 soldiers to Central Africa in January to support the poorly trained, ill-equipped government troops following an offensive launched by the Seleka rebel coalition in early December.

“Our soldiers paid the ultimate price in the service of their country . . . we honour them,” said Zuma.
“Just over 200 of our soldiers fought bandits who wanted to cause harm . . . not deter us from from our mission of peace and security,” said Zuma.

The rebels renewed their offensive last week and seized the capital Bangui on Sunday, forcing President Francois Bozize to flee the country.
“As a member of the African Union, South Africa rejects any efforts to seize power by force,” Zuma told reporters.

(President) Zuma should have withdrawn South African troops when Central African Republic President Francois Bozize failed to honour a peace agreement, the SA National Defence Union (Sandu) said on Monday.

“The president . . . should have withdrawn our troops at the very moment Bozize dishonoured his obligations in this respect,” Sandu national secretary Pikkie Greeff said in a statement.

Greeff called on President Zuma to withdraw troops with “immediate effect”.
President Zuma however said yesterday that South Africa has no immediate plans to pull out its troops from the Central Africa Republic.

“We have not taken a decision to withdraw,” Zuma told reporters.
“There is no reason for us to leave . . . we are looking at how to reinforce our forces and how to move forward,” he said. — Reuters/AFP.