According to an IRIN report:
South Africa is unlikely to deploy soldiers in support of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), as it did “not believe” in the political direction being followed to resolve the conflict, and there was no exit strategy, an analyst said.
Because it is by just about any measure the most powerful single nation state in Africa, South Africa is always in a damned-if-it-does, damned-if-it-doesn’t position when it comes to its dealings with the rest of the continent. When is chooses to use its political, military, cultural and economic might its detractors will accuse it of neo-colonialist tendencies. When it chooses not to, detractors (sometimes the same ones!) will accuse it of being negligent or aloof.
Still, can anyone blame South Africa for choosing not to get itself involved in Somalia? It is hard to tell whether or not South Africa’s decision not to be part of the AMISOM mission will undermine the efforts. Possibly. But as significantly, there is no evidence that South Africa’s presence would make a demonstrable positive difference either. In this case caution is likely the right approach.