'Money drives SA to act when unrest hits'

Pretoria - Business interests play a vital role in determining South Africa’s interventions in conflict-stricken African states, a conflict analyst said on Wednesday.

Examples of this were Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa Institute of SA researcher Nicasius Achu said in Pretoria.

Despite the legal frameworks authorising interventions, investment also played a role, he told a seminar on conflict resolution.

"Big business played a role in facilitating South Africa’s intervention in Burundi. Basically it was a matter of protecting the massive investments in eastern Congo," Achu said.

"One needs to understand that several South African mining companies have interests in Congo; so that plays a role in pushing the government to intervene. The intervention creates a passageway for South Africa to protect its interests."

Achu said South African authorities also got involved in the central African nations conflicts in a bid to hinder the flow of refugees.

"One can notice that there are a lot of refugees from that part of the continent. It is the onus of the South African government to make sure that that part of the continent is pacified to stem the flow of refugees into South Africa."

He said despite its numerous interventions on African countries, the objective of bring peace and stability had not been achieved.

"The situation in Cote d'Ivoire is still very uneasy, Libya has still not been pacified. Sudan is in turmoil and the Central African Republic (CAR) is a clear case in point," Achu said.

"There have been no security sector reforms in Burundi and the situation is alarming in the eastern Congo. Most of the objectives set by South Africa at the beginning (of the interventions) have not been met."

Achu said ad hoc military interventions posed serious human capital constraints to the SA National Defence Force.

"South Africa needs to do a thorough background research regarding intervention on the continent. Big business should play a minimal role in determining South Africa’s intervention on the continent," he said.

"The country should only intervene in areas where the effects of non-intervention would have adverse results on domestic policies. No matter what, there should be intervention in countries like Mozambique, and Zimbabwe."

In March, 13 South African soldiers were killed during a clash with rebel fighters in the CAR capital Bangui.