Johannesburg - Central African leaders pleaded with President Jacob Zuma to keep troops in the Central African Republic but he decided to withdraw them anyway, the government has said.
However, he agreed to send troops to the CAR if officially requested by the Economic Community of Central African States (Eccas).
Zuma announced after an Eccas summit in N'djamena, Chad, that the remaining SANDF troops would return home. It has been nearly two weeks since they lost 13 of their comrades in a pitched battle with Seleka rebels on March 23.
The SANDF has not officially announced how many troops remain in the CAR of the original force of close to 300, but military sources have indicated it is only about 18.
Some reports from Chad suggest that Zuma tried to persuade the Eccas leaders to send in a far stronger force to the CAR to topple the new Seleka regime and return the country to constitutional order. A reported massing of South African forces in the CAR's neighbours reinforced these perceptions.
According to these reports, Chad's president and Eccas chair, Idriss Deby, and other leaders persuaded Zuma to rather withdraw his forces in favour of a negotiated solution to the crisis.
However, International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane gave a very different interpretation of the summit at a press conference in Pretoria yesterday.
She said most of the Eccas leaders had pleaded with Zuma to keep his troops in the CAR.
But Zuma insisted he would withdraw the troops because South Africa did not wish to provide military support to what had become an unconstitutional government.
"President Zuma told the summit: 'Since the self-appointed leader of the CAR took over, in the process nullifying the constitution, the parliament and the judiciary, it has become clear that the government that we entered into an agreement with was no longer in place'."
However, Nkoana-Mashabane added that the Eccas leaders had asked South Africa to be ready to serve if called upon, and Zuma had agreed.
She said South Africa was part of a delegation, led by Eccas foreign ministers, which visited the CAR yesterday to convey the summit decisions to the Seleka leaders.
These included a decision not to recognise Seleka as a legitimate government, in line with AU statutes which outlaw unconstitutional changes of government.
The minister said the delegation would also explain to Seleka's leaders its decision that an electoral college or committee comprising representatives from all sectors of society in the CAR should be constituted to govern the country for a transitional period of no more than 18 months until elections could be held.
Foreign Editor
IOLSA