Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 16:05:55 -0700 From: Green Left Parramatta <glparramatta at peg.apc.org> Reply-To: glparramatta at peg.apc.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Subject: SA rightwingers back Milosevic Sender: owner-debate at sunsite.wits.ac.za Precedence: bulk
SA RIGHT WINGERS OFFER TASK FORCE TO HELP DEFEND SERBIA JOHANNESBURG May 10 1999 Sapa
South Africa's Boere Weerstand Beweging (Boer Resistance Movement) on Monday offered to send a force of volunteer soldiers to Yugoslavia to help defend Serbia against Nato aggression.
The leader of the Springs-based BWB, Andrew Ford, on Monday sent a letter to the Yugoslav embassy in Pretoria saying it was prepared to send 100 men, including combatants, medics and technical personnel to Serbia.
The force would also include five helicopter technicians and five pilots.
Although its mission was mainly humanitarian, the BWB would also send 34 combatants to protect the other members of the group.
The BWB said in its letter it wanted to send the group to Yugoslavia to "supports its people in the crisis in the country caused by the inhumane actions and aggression of Nato".
"We want to help the Serbians because they are nationalists and Christians like us," Ford told Sapa. Nato was wrong to attack a sovereign country, he said.
The organisation decided to send the force at a meeting of its general staff on Saturday.
Ford said all the members of the force were former SA Defence Force and SA Police members and fully trained in combat situations.
Ford told Sapa the BWB had contacts in Yugoslavia and was confident of raising money for the mission.
The righ-wing BWB also wrote to Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi asking for his approval for the force
"We want to emphasise that this is not a mercenary expedition but a sincere attempt to support a country and its people in a time of need," Ford said in the letter to Buthelezi.
"If this application is approved, the necessary logistics will be supplied by friendly organisations and individuals both locally and abroad." Buthelezi's spokeswoman Ruth Makiwane did not know whether the ministry had received the BWB's letter. She could not comment on whether the ministry would approve the expedition.
The BWB's offer comes a day after President Nelson Mandela said the government would not stop Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic if he decided to seek refuge in South Africa.
Nato attacks against Yugoslavia continued on Monday despite the mistaken bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade on Friday.