JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
A regional force fighting jihadists in Mozambique has opened an investigation over a video purportedly showing some of its troops mistreating corpses, the South African military said on Tuesday.
The clip circulating on social
media depicts some soldiers hurling a corpse over a pile of burning rubble,
where at least another body is already strewn.
A soldier pours a liquid over
the body as others, including one sporting a South African uniform, watch and
film the scene on their mobile phones.
Details of the incident were
not immediately clear. The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) said it
was believed to have taken place in November in Mozambique.
South African troops were
deployed in the country's restive north under the auspices of the SADC regional
bloc in 2021 to shore up the Mozambican military in the fight against Islamist
militants.
The SANDF issued a statement
saying the SADC force commander had ordered an investigation into a
"despicable act" that had entailed "throwing deceased
bodies."
"The SANDF does not
condone in anyway the acts committed in the video and those who are found
guilty of such acts will be brought to book," it said.
South Africa's opposition
Democratic Alliance (DA) party described the incident as an "embarrassment"
for the country.
It called on the government to
launch its own investigation to clarify among other things whether the bodies
belonged to civilians or combatants.
"There are international
standards and regulations for dealing with the bodies of the dead in a
dignified and human way even in a conflict zone," shadow defence minister
Kobus Marais said in a statement.
"What is shown on the
video is unacceptable and must be rejected in the strongest possible way."
More than 4,500 people have
been killed and almost a million have been forced to flee their homes since
Islamic State-linked militants launched an insurgency in Mozambique's gas-rich
Cabo Delgado province in 2017.
The government has regained
control over much of the region since the deployment of thousands of troops
from SADC countries and Rwanda.
But attacks and incursions
from the jihadists continue. - AFP
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