₦airaland Forum

Nigeria has one of the lowest net electricity generation per capita rates in the world. The organisation responsible for electricity production and supply in Nigeria is the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), formerly the National Electric Power Authority, known as NEPA. Nigeria is in the process of privatising the PHCN, hoping this will lead to greater investment in the sector and consequently increased power generation.

Nigeria’s epileptic power supply has taken a turn for the worse in recent months. Despite investing over $30 billion in the sector in the past 15 years, the total electricity supply as at today is less than a mere 1,400 megawatts (MW) for a country of over 170 million people.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/05/nigerias-electricity-crisis-is-a-failure-in-leadership/

SOUTH AFRICA
ESKOM, with a generating capacity of 35 200 MW from 20 power stations, is one of the largest utilities in the world, and generates approximately 98% of South Africa's electricity. Generation is primarily coal-fired, but also includes a nuclear power station at Koeberg, two gas turbine facilities, two conventional hydroelectric plants, and two hydroelectric pumped-storage stations. The company also owns and operates the national transmission system.

Seventy percent of South Africa’s population have access to electricity, well above the SADC average of around 20 %.

South Africa, Africa's most industrialised nation, generates 44 175 megawatts for its 51-million people. Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, generates about 3 200 megawatts for its 170-million people. Simply put, per capita, South Africans enjoy 55 times more electricity than Nigerians.

Read more: http://www.mediaclubsouthafrica.com/tech/3795-new-african-energy-projects-leapfrog-outdated-technologies#ixzz3gWwd0QHm

SANDF

FOR the past five years an Islamic extremist group called Boko Haram has grown in stature and gruesomeness in Nigeria's north-east. It has expanded its membership, range of operations and the territory it controls to the point where two dozens cities are beyond government control. This has happened despite the fact that Nigeria is now Africa's largest economy and has a highly capable political elite. Currently the army is fighting insurgents for control of the city of Chibok where Boko Haram abducted more than 200 schoolgirls earlier this year. How come Nigeria's situation keeps getting worse, given international support for the Nigerian government?

The crisis in the north-east needs to be seen in the context of generally rising criminality in Nigeria. Kidnappings for ransom are rife: celebrities and clergymen are plucked off the street in daylight. Hundreds of people are killed every year in land disputes. Thieves siphon off as much as a fifth of the country’s oil output in the Niger delta. Piracy is common. Rampant criminality also infects politics. Gangsters aid politicians by intimidating opponents. In return elected officials share out funds plundered from state coffers. Two years ago KPMG, a global audit firm, named Nigeria as the most fraud-prone country in Africa.


Boko Haram’s motivations lie not so much in religious fanaticism as in protest against government neglect. While fabulously wealthy, Nigeria's government and elite shares very little with the masses, especially those in the north-east, traditionally the poorest and least influential part of the country. Development levels there are among the lowest in the world, despite being one of OPEC's biggest oil producers. Nigeria's government has also neglected to pour money into its armed forces, out of both greed and fear. Coups used to be common. So now unpopular leaders are fighting an insurgency without capable security forces, which often inflames the situation, for example when under-paid and ill-trained soldiers rape and pillage just like Boko Haram.

The only way to defeat the insurgents is for Nigeria to do what it should have done long ago for other reasons: sort out its governance. Politicians should concentrate on building institutions, such as a fair-minded police force and a competent health care system, rather than filling their pockets in cooperation with criminals. Only then will the government be able to build a decent army and channel enough resources to the poor in the north-east. That is the way to defeat Boko Haram.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/11/economist-explains-10

SANDF

According to intelligence sources, several ex-South African Air Force (SAAF) pilots are also participating in the war against Boko Haram – under a separate contract – flying Russian Mil Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters, including in night operations, to good effect.

And overall, the multinational team of South African and other private military experts and official British, American and French military trainers have by some accounts, contributed significantly to the recent run of successes of the Lake Chad Basin Commission forces against Boko Haram. Of course the Chadian and Cameroonian troops have also made a significant contribution, though the AU operation is not yet fully up and running.

These were not ‘ex-soldiers,’ but simply ‘mercenaries,’ she said…
‘The former SADF members are definitely playing a major role in this offensive,’ said a former military intelligence officer this week. ‘They have been in country for a significant time already, involved in training some specialised NDF units. As per normal they are now deployed in an advisory capacity at the front. This includes being deployed with the NDF special forces, artillery, armour and infantry units on the ground.

‘Most of the gunships [Mi 24 Hinds] are being piloted by former SAAF members and they are flying a huge number of sorties, including nocturnal operations, with great success. There is also close involvement at HQ level, assisting in the planning of operations and the coordination/interpretation of the intelligence effort.’

Jakkie Cilliers, Executive Director of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria, agrees that if the best of the ex-SADF soldiers are indeed involved in the anti-Boko Haram operation, they would be ‘a huge asset’ for Nigeria. Their skills acquired in tracking and operating in the wooded terrain of southern Angola would be particularly relevant to conditions in northern Nigeria.

http://www.issafrica.org/iss-today/business-as-unusual-goodluck-jonathan-privatises-nigerian-relations-with-south-africa

Analysts believe that corruption in the NA was worsened by sharp practices such as over inflation of contract values, diversion of pension funds, drug trafficking, intimidation of contractors, withholding allowances and sundry other vices. Senior Officers heading the financial branch of their arm of the armed forces usually become instant billionaires on retirement. Successive Chief of Army Finance, Chief of Air Finance or Chief of Naval Finance respectively never retire from the service without billions of Naira in their accounts or stashed somewhere.On Friday the 4th of July, 2008, soldiers that converged from all over Nigeria held Akure town to ransom; the city stood at a standstill, the city got frozen. The soldiers that went on peacekeeping missions abroad became peace disturbers at home. the “wipers of other people's tears” started “shedding basins of tears”. Army peacekeepers drawn from across the country to participate in the operations protested the non-payment of their allowances. Authentic sources claimed that instead of the $1,228 that the global body approved for them on monthly basis, authorities of the Nigerian Army were short changing them by paying them only $3,000 for the six-month period.

http://www.modernghana.com/news/259133/1/nigerian-army-in-the-shadow-of-corruption.html

SANDF

Nigerian terror group Boko Haram releases first beheading video since pledging allegiance to ISIS

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3156551/Like-master-like-servant-Nigerian-terror-group-Boko-Haram-releases-beheading-video-pledging-allegiance-ISIS.html#ixzz3gPrpxZke

A QUESTION WERE ARE ALX Super Tucano ground attack aircraft MANY NAIJAS HAVE BRAGGING ABOUT??

The NAF ORBAT as at February 2007 was follows:

Fighter Fleet. The 14 Alpha Jet ground attack aircraft located at Kainji were the only fixed wing combat aircraft currently in flying status. A total of 23 Mig-21 Air Defence Interceptors had been grounded since 1988. And the 15 Jaguar Recce Interdiction aircraft had also been grounded since 1988.
Transport Fleet. The NAF operated the C-130H and the G-222 for heavy and medium air lift respectively. Also, the Do-228 was available for light transport and liaison duties. The G-222s were all grounded while undergoing fleet reactivation and upgrade, while all the C-130s were grounded, as they had been scheduled for Periodic Depot Maintenance (PDM). The serviceability of the Do-228 and C-130 as at February 2007 ranged from 15% to 0%. The 11 DO- 128-6 Liaison Transports were grounded, while the 5 DO–228 Liaison Transports were operational.
Helicopters Fleet. The NAF helicopter fleet comprised the Super Puma helicopter and the Mi-35P armed helicopter. As at February 2007 the Super Puma fleet was grounded, although there are efforts for its reactivation. The current serviceability status of the Mi-35P was on the average 33%.
Trainer Fleet. For primary flying training, the NAF had the ABT-18 aircraft for ab-intio training. The L-39ZA, MB-339 and Mi34 were used for basic flying training. The MB-339 fleet was grounded awaiting activation of a signed contract for its upgrade while the serviceability rate of the L-39ZA as at February 2007 was 25%.

The sustenance of high aircraft serviceability requires the continuous availability of aircraft spares. As of 2007,the operations of NAF aircraft fleet were affected by the scarcity of aircraft spares. For example, the Super Puma, and G222 hade been grounded for over 10 years due to the non-availability of spares to conduct 1000 hrs and 800 hrs inspections, respectively. Conversely, due to the grounding of some Alpha Jets due to lack of minor but fast moving spares, about 1,445 Alpha Jet line items in the storage were not required for over a period of 5 years.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/nigeria/air-force-equipment-intro.htm

A BIG STORY IN NIGERIA IN THIS DAY AND AGE....HAHAHAHAH

The Nigerian Air Force has successfully carried out maintenance of its fleet of Fighter Jets within the country in what has been described as a rare feat.

At the hand-over ceremony of the six alpha jets and one Hercules C-130 plane to the Federal Government by the Aeronautical Engineering and Technical Servicing Limited (AETSL) in partnership with Sabena Air of France at NAF 401 ACMD in Ikeja, Lagos, on Tuesday, the Minister of State for Defence, Erelu Olusola Obada said the decision to service the aircrafts in the country was a step in the right direction as it not only saves hard earned foreign exchange for the country but will aid in tackling the nation’s security challenges.

“It’s a great day, not just for Nigeria but for the Nigerian Air Force”, she said.

“For the very first time ever, we have had a successful periodic maintenance of our aircraft in-country without having to carry them out to other countries for maintenance.”

http://www.informationng.com/2013/09/nigerian-air-force-successfully-carries-out-first-in-country-maintenance-of-fighter-jets.html

REALLY SHOCKING STORY

In the most prominent case, 54 soldiers from the 111th Special Forces Battalion were sentenced to death for mutiny after they refused to join an operation against the insurgents in August. A month earlier, the same unit had been ambushed, leaving 26 troops dead and 83 others injured. The soldiers then demanded better munitions to fight the rebels, who were armed with antiaircraft guns and armored personnel carriers, said a court filing from Falana. Ironically, most of the rebels’ weapons appeared to have come from Ni­ger­ian military bases they had overrun, according to the surviving troops.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/the-nigerian-military-is-so-broken-its-soldiers-are-refusing-to-fight/2015/05/06/d56fabac-dcae-11e4-b6d7-b9bc8acf16f7_story.html

Naij.com reader Chris [not his real name] is an officer with the Nigerian military. In his message to info@naij.com, he details the level of corruption in the Nigerian military, warning that such negligence will surely backfire and have negative consequenses of state of security in our country.

Chris is a Corporal in the Nigerian Air Force, currently serving in Yola, Adamawa State. In his letter below he describes the reality he has to face every day and the losing fight the soldiers have to fight with the corruption in the Nigerian military.

“I write to seek help in exposing our corrupt senior officers. The corruption in the Nigerian military environs is higher than in the political sector. We lack relevant agencies to check the growing trend. The negligence and the nonchalant attitude regarding the welfare of lower ranks will soon spell doom on the security of the Nigerian state.

“In my unit, soldiers live without accommodation. In the little space available, they are being paired up two (2) and three (3) in a room.

“Still, millions are being spent on the gigantic edifice of the Airlodge located near Ribadu Square, Jimeta Yola, which is meant for senior officers. Millions are allocated to the ongoing project of the Air Chief Marshal A. S. Badeh’s golf club (along Jambutu Numan Road, Yola).

“I know that soldiers serving in 37 BSG and 75 STG, Yola (war zones), are not being paid their operational allowances. It is crystal clear to us that the funds are coming from the DHQ Abuja. But the money is diverted to the private pocket of few ‘chosen’ ones. Our colleagues in the Nigerian Army have to endure a similar fate.

“Now, let’s talk about operational efficiency. Nigerian military is too ill-equipped to combat the ravaging insurgency in the North. Forget about what the Defense spokesman is saying from Abuja. Here, it’s visible to the blind and audible to the deaf. In my unit here in Yola, despite the global technological progress, we are still using the Fabrique Nationale rifles that were used in the Biafran War! Meanwhile, the insurgents are carrying advanced weapons. They have light machine guns, new AK-47 rifles, general-purpose machine guns, to mention a few.

“It’s sad to know that, because of the same corruption in the Nigerian military, we don’t have rocket-propelled grenade launchers. All the armoured personnel carriers we use to defend our bases are outdated. Of the two outdated Mi-35M helicopters, one has crashed, and the other one was fired at by the insurgents and grounded in Maiduguri.

“The operation of archaic fighter aircrafts such as Alpha jet and F-7 fighter jet is a waste of taxpayers’ money, ranging from fueling, to armouring it with heavy missiles that are being detonated in an unknown location (best known to the pilots.) I guess it’s a deliberate action by the pilots, or a directive from upper authority.

“Those who are interested in keeping corruption in the Nigerian military regularly embezzle funds at the detriment of ground troops and the Nigeria security state in general.

“Like I’ve said, the unchecked corruption in the Nigerian military and negligence of our leaders towards the well-being of personnel troops will soon have negative consequences on the state of security in Nigeria.”

http://www.naij.com/284295-corruption-nigerian-military.html

Senior leaders of the Air Force cannot explain why Nigeria even needs an Air Force, but they continue to pursue combat aircraft to battle an unknown threat. Nigeria has an Air Force with few functional aircraft. The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) is largely irrelevant. Most of the Generals are pilots who feel the need to focus on fighter aircraft to protect Nigerian airspace against foreign incursion (by whom they won't say). With the exception of the helicopter fleet being used in the Niger Delta, most of NAF's aircraft are non-functional. There are six times as many general officers and flag officers in the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) and Nigerian Navy (NN) as there are operational ships and aircraft.

As of 2009, most of its fleets were grounded and its training institutions were constrained with shortages of technical skills such as instructors and institutional facilities. The highest percentage of the actual allocation to NAF compared with the annual budget proposal was just 31% in 2002. Evidently, the current budgetary allocations to the NAF cannot sustain effective and efficient aircraft maintenance activities. This is due to the constraints in spares acquisition. Lack of funding has been responsible for an inability to preserve aircraft regularly… Aircraft become due for Periodic Depot Maintenance (PDM) with time, and not by hours flown, because they are most of the time grounded for unserviceability. The reasons for unserviceability are usually traceable to lack of spares occasioned by insufficient funding.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/nigeria/air-force.htm

SANDF

SANDF...SMALL THINGS AMUSES SMALL MIND

SANDF...THE BEST FORM OF IGNORANCE IS ARROGANCE

SANDF ...DONT ARGUE WITH A FOOL AS NO ONE WILL NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE

SANDF

SANDF

SOUTH AFRICAN GRIPEN IN ACTION

SANDF

A blackout on operations by South African soldiers fighting rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo has left historic battles shrouded in mystery.

Now writer Stephan Hofstatter and photographer James Oatway, who reported on two of the battles from the Congo, have been granted exclusive access to the men who fought in democratic South Africa’s most successful military operation. This is their story.

On Wednesday August 28 2013, two old Soviet T55 tanks that were parked outside the South African base at Munigi hill overlooking Goma roared into life and trundled up the road into enemy-occupied territory. The South Africans thought nothing of it. For weeks, Congolese soldiers had fired up their T55s to run their engines and reconnoitre rebel movements. That morning, a routine drill turned into war.

At 6.15am, the tanks opened fire on M23 positions dug into Triple Towers hill 5km from the base, in an area known as Kibati Heights. Within minutes, a force of 1500 well-trained rebels, armed with mortars, 12-barrel anti-aircraft rocket launchers called Katyushas, a Russian SPG-9 anti-tank weapon mounted on a pick-up truck and assault rifles, returned fire. They overshot the tanks, raining shells on the camp. One landed on the outskirts of Goma, injuring several civilians.

“It caught us totally by surprise. Those guys are not very accurate with their weapons,” said Captain David Williams, commander of Alpha Company.

A 14.5mm round whizzed through the kitchen while the chef was preparing breakfast. Henceforth, he cooked in battle gear, including helmet. By the end of that morning’s shelling, six South Africans were being treated for shrapnel wounds, some returning to the front within hours.

The 850-strong South African contingent of the new Force Intervention Brigade, the first UN army given orders to shoot first and ask questions later, arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between April and June 2013.

Most were part of 6 SA Infantry Battalion under the operational command of Lieutenant-Colonel Altin Gysman, and included a recce platoon of 36 men. Joining them was Charlie Company, 144 paratroopers from 44 Parachute Brigade commanded by Major Victor Vrolik, and 1200 Tanzanian infantry and artillery men. Another 900 Malawians were due to arrive later.

These combat troops, along with Mamba armoured personnel carriers, 122mm howitzers, 81mm mortars, Oryx transport helicopters and — belatedly — three hi-tech Rooivalk attack helicopters, were just what was needed to bolster the force of Congolese regional commander Major-General Bahuma Ambamba and the charismatic Colonel Mamadou Ndala. The colonel died mysteriously in an ambush months later.

The South Africans deployed two companies of 145 men each, commanded by Captain Williams and Captain Carl Fuller, comprising four infantry platoons and recces. Marksmen from a different detachment were seconded to each unit to be deployed as snipers. Fuller’s company was merged with a Tanzanian company to form Task Group Bravo.

Williams’s Alpha Company controlled the high ground in the east and Gysman and Bahuma controlled the high ground at Moja Mutaho to the west.

The South African combat troops in the DRC were trained in jungle warfare by Colonel William Dixon, who had just returned from battling 7000 Seleka rebels with 200 paratroopers and special forces operatives in the Central African Republic.

On August 23, soon after M23 shelled Munigi base, the UN war machine sprang into action to support a Congolese army attack. The Battle of Kibati would last almost three days.

stBubele1708-15-08-2014-13-08-03-476-.jpg
Lieutenant Bubele Zote

Lieutenant Bubele Zote had a bird’s-eye view of the fight while providing co-ordinates for mortar and artillery fire. Attack helicopters pounding M23 positions were initially ineffective because the rebels had dug themselves in too deeply.

“Every night convoys would be seen removing the M23 dead from the battlefield,” said Zote.

Next came the ground assaults. This was extreme combat terrain. The Route Nationale 2 runs north from Goma parallel to the Rwandan border through a jumble of rolling hills, steep, densely wooded cones separated by grassy plains and rugged fields of razor-sharp rock spewed out by the majestic Nyiragongo volcano. Opportunities for ambushes, sniper hides, concealed machine-gun and mortar nests, command posts and high-lying trenches for small-arms firing positions were legion.

Fuller’s Task Group Alpha made several advances in the next two days, sending snipers and Congolese special forces to within 1km of M23 positions to take out strategic targets, including the anti-tank weapon.

Mamadu confirmed that a South African sniper had a major impact on the battle by killing six M23 officers in one day, including a spectacular shot at a distance of 2.125km. This is the sixth-longest confirmed sniper kill in the world. Gysman described the sniper, who did not want to be identified, as “a very proficient shottist”.

On Thursday, Fuller had a brush with death. He was directing mortar fire at Triple Towers 2.5km from the south with the Congolese army closing in from the west. “Then the M23 picked up my position.”

Shells started raining on the roofs of his Mambas. He ordered his men inside the vehicles while machine gunners on their roofs returned fire.

He shouted to Tanzanian Major Khatib Mshindo that they should withdraw.

Seconds later, a shell landed between Mshindo’s legs. Fuller yelled for a medic and was mid-sentence when another shell landed between his legs. Luckily, the soft ground absorbed most of the blast, although the vehicles to his left and right were peppered with shrapnel.

“It was just not my time,” he said. Mshindo was not so lucky. He was evacuated to the base and died of his wounds.

Rifleman Asanda Bisha operated a Mamba machine gun during the fight. “It was scary when the bombs started falling,” he said.

He continued to return fire and scan the horizon to select targets with his binoculars.

“You get scared of being shot and you have to shoot back. But there are others in the vehicle you have to protect.”

The final push happened on Friday morning with the Ukrainian helicopters “striking like hell and making a success of it this time”, in Gysman’s words.

Simultaneous pounding by Tanzanian artillery and South African mortars continued, destroying M23 rations and weapons caches. When “the target was soft”, Fuller and Mamadu were sent to storm the hill.

By noon, the Battle of Kibati was over, leaving about 500 M23 rebels dead, bringing to an end democratic South Africa’s most successful military operation.

Captain risked his life for a stranger

Captain Reagan Campher was riding in the lead vehicle of a convoy of three Mambas in hot pursuit of a detachment of M23 rebels when the ambush was sprung.

That morning, the South African and Tanzanian soldiers of the UN’s Force Intervention Brigade had been put on high alert after receiving reports that a group of 20 to 30 rebels had slipped past their perimeter patrols and were heading towards their base at Kiwanja, about 80km north of Goma.

Campher was a machine gun platoon commander deployed with the technical headquarters of the brigade.

In early October, South African and Tanzanian troops were secretly flown over the frontline in Oryx helicopters and Ukrainian Mi-26 helicopters big enough to transport two Mambas. They were dropped at the UN base at Kiwanja, a stone’s throw from the M23’s administrative headquarters at Rutshuru.

The troops spent two weeks deploying in strategic positions to block rebel escape routes as the Congolese army closed in on Rutshuru from the north, south and east, forcing the M23 to split its forces along three fronts. Because the area was heavily populated, the peacekeepers were prohibited from using artillery and mortars. They claim as a result that no civilians were killed from their operations.

On October 27, rebel units trapped west of the UN cordon were trying to join their comrades retreating towards Bunagana on the Ugandan border. Campher found himself pursuing one of those M23 units. Some of the rebels took off their uniforms and fled into Kiwanja and melted into the civilian population. Others surrendered. But a small group continued east up Govender Hill on the road to Rutshuru. The peacekeepers drove three Mambas in staggered formation 50m apart, each transporting 10 soldiers and a machine gunner perched on the roof. They chose a small house as their next checkpoint.

“When we got there, a rebel came out of the house spraying bullets at us with an AK47. We engaged on the left but came under fire from the right too, so I ordered my men to move back 200m,” said Campher.

As his Mamba raced back down the road, he saw a Tanzanian soldier behind a bougainvillaea. “As soon as I jumped out I came under fire. My members gave covering fire as I ran,” he said. “He was lying on his face, but I found a weak pulse. I called for a medic, but he couldn’t reach us because of the volume of fire, so I dragged him back to the Mamba myself.”

Rajab Ahmed Mlima, a Tanzanian special forces lieutenant, died on his way to hospital. Campher cannot explain why he had risked his life in a bid to save Mlima’s.

“The good training kicked in,” he said.

In such moments, time slows down. He recalls thinking about his family, “about being home”, as bullets whistled past his head. He can still see the beautiful canopy of purple flowers shading Mlima in his dying moments.

Within a week, the Congolese and UN intervention brigade forces had driven the M23 rebels from Rutshuru to their last strongholds, the hills of Tzhanzu and Runyoni near Bunagana on the Ugandan border. On November 3, the rebels shelled Bunaganda from Tzhanzu, killing six civilians.

The next day, the UN deployed Rooivalk helicopters. Three Rooivalks had arrived in Goma a week earlier. At 5pm on November 4, two Rooivalks fired dozens of rockets at M23 bunkers on Tzhanzu and Runyoni, destroying an anti-aircraft gun.

“It was the first ever deployment of the Rooivalks and it was highly successful,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Altin Gysman, officer commanding the 6 SA Infantry Battalion.

“We achieved final destruction of M23 by Rooivalk.”

They kept their cool as all hell broke loose in jungle battle

They came out of nowhere, charging down the hill firing wildly, high on banana spirits and wearing war charms they were convinced could turn bullets into water.

It was 4am. A heavy mist had descended on the camp, leaving it in pitch darkness. They came in waves from the south, east and north, firing from 300m, then 80m, then 2m, yelling in Swahili that they wanted food and weapons. Four machine guns perched on a hill 200m away kept up a steady stream of fire.

On April 30, Mai Mai warriors of General Janvier Karayiri’s Patriotic Alliance for a Free and Sovereign Congo were intent on overrunning the UN base at Nyiabiondo, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a small town in the mountainous jungles that rise beyond the fertile plains of Masisi, 70km west of the provincial capital, Goma.

And the soldiers of 6 SA Infantry Battalion — whose home base is Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape — were determined to stop them.

Captain David Williams was in charge of Alpha Company — 145 men equipped with Mamba armoured personnel carriers, R4 rifles, machine guns, mortars and grenade launchers. They formed part of the UN’s Force Intervention Brigade supporting a force of 200 DRC soldiers camped nearby. Their job was to disarm the Mai Mai rebels operating in these mountains and kill those who resisted.

Williams had received intelligence the night before that an attack was planned. His troops were battle-ready and he was not too concerned.

“Until then, we believed that wherever the FIB is the Mai Mai will run away,” said Williams.

The rebels had fled from engagements in early April, when Karayiri’s men had occupied strategic heights west and north of Nyiabiondo.

At that time, the Force Intervention Brigade had sent 35 vehicles to the area from its base 70km away at Sake, near Goma. It had been a 10-hour drive on atrocious roads — and the South Africans had then walked for another eight hours into the mountains, a company of Congolese soldiers carrying their heavy weapons and ammunition. Three Rooivalk attack helicopters were on stand-by at Goma airport, a mere 10-minute flight away.

Each time the South Africans advanced and launched a mortar attack, the rebels — armed with machine guns, assault rifles, mortars and 12-barrel anti-aircraft rocket launchers — retreated to the northwest until they reached Mount Sinai. Then the Rooivalks were called in.

“Each of them made six turns. The rebels — those who were still alive — withdrew,” said Williams.

But Karayiri’s attack on April 30 disproved the theory that the Mai Mai would run at the first whiff of cordite.

“All hell broke loose that morning,” said Williams. “Bullets were flying through our tents and sleeping bags.”

The attackers were wearing Congolese army uniforms, making it almost impossible to tell friend from foe.

“It took great discipline for the men to fire only when they were ordered to do so,” said Williams.

He deployed his men and machine guns on the left and right perimeter, ordering them to fire simultaneously when he launched a second flare.

By the end of the three-hour battle, nine Congolese soldiers had been killed, several were injured, dozens of Mai Mai of a force of 100 were dead and three South Africans were wounded. One of them, Rifleman Sthabiso Mazibuko, was seriously hurt, but he has made an almost full recovery.

Williams made frantic calls for an Oryx helicopter to evacuate the wounded. For one excruciating hour the men waited in suspense.

“I was worried about my man bleeding to death. You could hear the Oryx’s rotors overhead, but they couldn’t land until 8am because the mist was too thick,” said Williams.

After his wounded troops were evacuated, Williams jumped into a second Oryx, which was carrying forward air controller Major Peet Venter. Venter guided the Rooivalks in their attack on the fleeing Mai Mai, whom they spotted from the air.

“We decided not to pursue them into the jungle on foot,” said Williams.

“They could have surrounded us easily. It would have been a suicide mission. And we didn’t want to leave the civilians behind unprotected.”

Karayiri claimed to be defending the local people against “foreign invaders and their allies”.

These “allies” included the FDLR — originally made up of former genocidaires (French for “mass killers”) and Rwandan army units who had fled to the DRC after the 1994 genocide — M23 rebels, who the UN said were trained, sponsored, equipped and sometimes led by Rwandans, and notorious Rwanda-aligned local militiaman Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka. He is accused of ordering mass rapes and beheadings.

Most observers believe that both the Patriotic Alliance and its rivals are simply squabbling over control of lucrative diamond, gold and tin mines.

Following the defeat of the M23 on November 4, the overall UN military commander, Lieutenant-General Alberto dos Santos Cruz, gave all rebels until December 5 to lay down their arms and surrender or be hunted down and killed.

During this period, South African troops were engaged in skirmishes with Mai Mai groups around Kitchanga, west of Rutshuru, the former M23 administrative headquarters. Late in November, 6 SA Infantry’s Alpha and Bravo companies were airlifted to Pinga, where locals were being raped and murdered.

“I deployed my platoons and recces to protect the local population,” said Bravo company commander Captain Carl Fuller. “We made it clear to Sheka that we were not going to tolerate these murders and rapes and clashes with other groupings.”

The day the FIB force landed in Pinga, Sheka “gave a clear indication” that he wanted to surrender, said Fuller.

Within days, he held a “farewell parade” for the UN commanders, surrendering one platoon that included children, a mortar, a rusted mortar shell that “I think came from World War 1”, 15 rounds of ammunition and one pistol.

“He was clearly trying to bulls**t us,” said Fuller.

That night, Sheka and his men vanished into the mountains.

“He didn’t arrive for an appointment the next day. We tried to locate him, but the locals refused to give us any information. We went on vehicle patrols and aerial reconnaissance, but Sheka was nowhere to be seen. He was a ghost.”

The South Africans were withdrawn to Goma in January, but Sheka, who commands about 3000 men, attacked Pinga again within a week, prompting the UN to redeploy them.

“When the Force Intervention Brigade is not there, the rebels take over,” said Fuller.

Nyiabiondo was the last battle fought by 6 SA Infantry Battalion before it returned to Grahamstown on May 28.

It was replaced by 5 SA Infantry Battalion, based in Ladysmith. The relieving force is supporting Congolese troops in driving the remaining Mai Mai rebels into a cordon in the mountains north of Masisi and preparing for a final ground and air assault.

SANDF

NIGERIA CANNOT OFFER ANYTHING

South Africa guided weapons company Kentron has unveiled its 300km (180mi) range Torgos cruise missile for the first time at Dubai 2000.

The new missile is a development of the existing family of precision guided weapons from Kentron, a division of the Denel Group.

"Torgos has been designed with low mass, coupled with stealthy characteristics and high manoeuvrability," says Denel spokesman Sam Basch. "For its primary role as a multi-purpose, long-range precision strike weapon, Torgos is designed to neutralise hardened targets of high strategic value.

"Its cruciform tail control makes it particularly manoeuvrable in the terminal phase of attack, which also enables Torgos to hit moving targets of opportunity."

Kentron has been involved in the development of guided weapons and missiles since the early 1970s. Its Raptor television guided glide bomb

was used operationally during the 1980s. A series of variants have since been developed from this weapon for a number of customers.

"Torgos is a natural evolution from Kentron's MUPSOW (Multi-Purpose Stand-Off Weapon) advanced technology demonstrator programme," says Basch. "The latter's primary role is that of a sub-munition dispensing system, for day/night precision strike operations over long range, to neutralise targets such as airfields, air defence systems, strategic installations and command-and-control centres."

The Torgos has two modes of operation: Man-in-the-loop (MITL) through a dedicated communications link allows the pilot to direct the weapon to its target; and automatic target recognition (ATR) which uses the latest generation of thermal imagers to identify targets for attack.

Denel says the weapon, which weighs less than 1,000kg (2,200lb), has a miss distance better than 2m (6ft) and can be carried by Dassault Mirage 2000, Saab JAS-39A Gripen and Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter aircraft.

"We are offering the Torgos to prospective joint venture partners, with both MTL and autonomous ATR capability," says Basch. "The Raptor range, which is still in series production, along with the MUPSOW and Torgos, offers prospective clients a family of stand-off weapon systems to fulfil their requirements.
Torgos is a long-range, precision-guided strike missile, designed to neutralise enemy targets such as hardened aircraft shelters, bunkers and command-and-control centres at extended stand-off ranges. Pinpoint accuracy is achieved by using advanced navigation and autonomous terminal-guidance technology. It will use GPS-INS midcourse guidance, but also has thermal imaging terminal seeker that can operate autonomously, or allow remote control over a data link.

The weapon was derived from the MUPSOW programme. It is not known if Mupsow has entered SAAF service.



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NIGERIANS ARRESTED IN SOUTH AFRICA FOR DRUG POSSESSION @AUGUSTUS MAYBE ONE OF THESE IS YOUR BROTHER OR RELATIVE...EVEN A PASTOR

Enough nuclear explosive to fuel a half-a-dozen bombs, each powerful enough to obliterate central Washington or most of lower Manhattan, is locked in a former silver vault at this nuclear research center near the South African capital.

Technicians extracted the highly-enriched uranium from the apartheid regime’s nuclear weapons in 1990, then melted the fuel down and cast it into ingots. Over the years some of the cache has been used to make medical isotopes, but roughly 485 pounds remains, and South Africa is keeping a tight grip on it.

That gives this country — which has insisted that the United States and other world powers completely destroy their nuclear arsenals – a theoretical ability to regain its former status as a nuclear-weapons state. But what really worries the United States is that the nuclear explosives here could be stolen and used by militants to commit the worst terror attack in history.

Senior current and former U.S. officials say they have reason to be concerned. On a cold night in November of 2007, two teams of raiders breached the fences here at the Pelindaba research center, set in the rolling scrubland a half-hour’s drive west of Pretoria, the country's administrative capital. One group penetrated deep into the site unchallenged and broke into the site’s central alarm station. They were stopped only because a substitute watch officer summoned others.

http://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/03/14/16873/south-africa-rebuffs-repeated-us-demands-it-relinquish-its-nuclear-explosives

Centre for Public Integrity, a US-based non-profit investigative news organisation, has published a report which says that South Africa has enough nuclear explosives to fuel half-a-dozen bombs.

According to the report, the nuclear explosives are locked in a former silver vault at the Pelindaba Nuclear Research Centre close to the Hartbeespoort Dam.

Pelindaba is operated by The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation, and was were South Africa’s atomic weapons under apartheid were developed, built, and stored.

These explosives were created by the apartheid government as part of its nuclear weapons programme. According to a report by Marcus Duvenhage, South Africa had six nuclear devices, and was busy constructing a seventh, by the time the programme stopped.

South Africa ended its nuclear weapons programme in 1989, and these weapons were dismantled.

However, the highly-enriched uranium fuel was extracted, melted down, and cast into ingots.

The report states that roughly 220kg of this fuel remains, and that South Africa is “keeping a tight grip on it”.

This weapons-grade nuclear fuel means South Africa can easily become a nuclear state again. However, the biggest concern to the United States is that it will be stolen by militants and used in a terrorist attack.

According to U.S. officials and experts, South Africa’s nuclear explosives are among the most vulnerable in the world to theft by terrorists.

U.S. officials further argue that South Africa has no clear rationale for holding its nuclear explosive materials, because it no longer needs them to make medical isotopes.

The Centre for Public Integrity said that US President Barack Obama twice directly asked the South African president to relinquish this weapons-grade uranium. However, the SA president did not oblige.

The full report is available here: South Africa rebuffs repeated U.S. demands that it relinquish its nuclear explosives

Dismantling of SA’s atomic bombs
In a 2012 interview former SA president FW De Klerk said that soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall they decided to announce the dismantling of South Africa’s atomic bombs.

“We announced as soon as possible that we had broken those [nuclear] bombs down, [and] that we could account for every milli-milli-milli-milligram of material,” said de Klerk.

He added that they “would open all facilities to full inspection by the International Atomic Agency, and that is exactly what we did.”

http://fireworksdisplay.org/tags/south-africa-refuses-to-let-go-of-its-nuclear-explosives.html

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