Thabo Mbeki defends hosting M23 militia for peace dialogue

JOHANNESBURG - Former President Thabo Mbeki said he was "puzzled" that there was controversy over his foundation hosting the Congolese rebel militia group, M23, in South Africa.

Last week, the Thabo Mbeki Foundation held a peace dialogue in Pretoria, focusing on the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Speaking at an event at the University of South Africa (UNISA) on Friday, Mbeki said the peace talks would have been useless without representatives from the militia group.

The M23 rebel militia group has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the African Union and the United Nations.

The Department of Defence has also blamed the group for the deaths of the 14 South African soldiers who were stationed in the Eastern DRC for a peace mission.

However, former state President Thabo Mbeki has defended the decision to invite the group.

"It puzzled me that the question arose at all, because you can't discuss peace and security in the Congo without involving the M23, otherwise, you are joking. That is why you have a process taking place in Doha, Qatar, where the government of Congo and M23 are meeting and necessarily it's correct."

During his talk, Mbeki lamented that the spirit of pan-Africanism was depreciating in South Africa and across the country.