Hon Speaker, if you had allowed me to help members to understand, maybe there would have been no need for this follow- up question. But you have the right to rule.
Firstly, no poor decisions were taken on the matter of the Central African Republic. There were no poor decisions. Very proper procedures in regard to establishing relationships with countries were followed.
The fact of the matter is that our soldiers were there to do training. They were not there for a war. They were there to train the soldiers of that country. That was the arrangement. In that case you don't send well-armed people to go and fight. They are not going to fight. Their mission there is to train other people. They are not going to fight.
So you can't put it as if there were a military operation and poor decisions. That was never the case. The country got into its own problems, which resulted in the rebels' coming into being and fighting to take over the country.
In the process of that interaction among the Central African Republic people who were quarrelling, the region and the AU intervened to stop the fighting. They went to Libreville to get an agreement that the fighting must come to an end and they must handle the country together for a particular period. Indeed, that is what happened. Those who came recognised the agreement between South Africa and their country, and we continued to be there - we were ready to do the kind of task that we were going to do. We were not there for war.
They later quarrelled again and in the process the rebels advanced very quickly. In that process they found our unit, which was not there to fight. They walked in on it, they fought it, and we just fought to defend ourselves in those circumstances. I don't think we should put it as if there was war there and we sent our soldiers to go and fight, and therefore took poor decisions. No, not at all. It is important for me to clarify the issue.
When it comes to the decisions that are taken by the AU, when we take those decisions, we will take them absolutely appropriately, knowing fully well what it is that we will be doing. What will South Africa contribute when other countries are contributing, for example? This will be a discussed thing and we will know exactly what it is that we need to do. Therefore, we can assure South Africans that no wrong decision will be taken. We will take correct decisions in implementing the collective decisions of the AU. Thank you, hon Speaker. [Applause.]