CAR: Timely Warnings Were Ignored

28th March 2013

The South African government is sending more soldiers to the Central 
African Republic, potentially exposing them to a looming civil war.

The government was warned three months ago by South African soldiers 
on the ground that the situation in the CAR was volatile and deteriorating, 
according to sources in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

The rebels, who describe the SANDF soldiers deployed in the CAR to protect 
that country's deposed President François Bozizé as "mercenaries" and should 
be treated "accordingly", are themselves not united.

Cracks began showing on Tuesday when Nelson N'Jadder, president of the Seleka-
allied rebel group, the Revolution for Democracy, said he would fight a fellow rebel 
leader, Michel Djotodia, who declared himself the CAR president on Monday.
 N'Jadder told Associated Press he had "enough soldiers loyal to me to attack 
Djotodia".

According to reports, some South African soldiers were captured by rebel forces.

But the SANDF spokesperson, Brigadier General Xolani Mabanga, refused to 
comment on this and dismissed reports that badly injured soldiers were still in the 
CAR. He said it was "nonsense".

Poor resources

"All our injured soldiers have been evacuated and are receiving medical 
attention," he said.

The government knew for several months that the security situation 
in the CAR was deteriorating. 

Soldiers deployed there complained to their seniors as early as 2011 
about poor resources assigned for their mission. President Jacob Zuma 
himself was again warned on Friday March 22 that things were getting 
out of hand.

He (Zuma) knew by that Friday morning that South African troops were likely to 
be caught in fighting with the rebels, according to SANDF sources.

Bozizé called on Zuma, apparently to seek direction on how to tackle the rebels 
that were about to take 

the capital, Bangui.  Bozizé told Zuma that the rebels had given him a 72-hour 
ultimatum to vacate the presidential palace.

In addition to this, Zuma and the South African government knew from as early 
as the beginning of December last year that the Seleka rebels, a coalition of 
several rebel groups opposing Bozizé, had launched an offensive against the 
CAR government.

By the middle of last week, the United Nations was told by French representatives 
that Seleka already controlled three-quarters of the country and that fighting had 
reached the town of Damara, 75km from Bangui, by last Friday.

This raises questions about whether South Africa was negligent and shirked its 
responsibility for the deployed soldiers; and why, with the information in 
hand, Zuma's administration failed to provide the company of soldiers with
 more resources, given the prospect of a looming battle.

Reinforcements

"The rebels had given him [Bozizé] 72 hours to give up power. He came to see Zuma 
to ask him what to do," the SANDF source said.

"Zuma apparently said 'I can't be part of this, it has become too political. Go back 
to your regional 

members [the Economic Community of Central African States] who know your politics
 better'."

The United Democratic Movement leader, Bantu Holomisa, a former army general 
himself, said Bozizé probably came to South Africa to seek refuge because, by Friday, 
it was too late to ask Zuma for reinforcements.

By choosing Pretoria as the first place to run to backs up talk that, in the months 
leading up to Bozizé's 

fall from power, Zuma remained one of his few reliable friends.

Helmoed-Romer Heitman, a military analyst and a Jane's Defence Weekly 
correspondent, said there  was little South Africa could do when Bozizé told 
Zuma on Friday last week about the impending battle of Bangui.

"By the time he came here, it was already too late. If South Africa had military 
transport aircraft, we could have been able to fly in more reinforcements," said 
Heitman.

Even deploying fighter jets such as the Rooivalk and Gripen was not an option 
South Africa could afford, Heitman said.

"For us to fly fighter jets to CAR, we would need to stop in another country and 
refuel, then stop again in another country. That's not good for the military's 
security."

On Monday, Zuma, the SANDF commander-in-chief, told journalists that the 
South Africans would stay on in the CAR. "There is no reason for us to leave … 
we are looking at how to reinforce our forces and how to move forward," he said.

A joint statement by Parliament's portfolio committee on defence and military 
veterans and the joint standing committee on defence expressed support for 
Zuma's decision to keep the troops in the CAR.

Conflicting reports

"We support the resourcing of SANDF personnel based in that country and 
are hopeful of the safe return of the rest of our troops as soon as their mission 
is accomplished."

As conflicting reports surfaced about the battle of Bangui, Mabanga refused to 
say whether any soldiers were killed by CAR government forces rebelling 
against Bozizé.

Mabanga also refused to say  whether reinforcements had been sent 
in to assist the deployed soldiers. 

"It would be a security risk to provide that information," he said.

The television station eNCA reported on Wednesday that more SANDF
 troops were seen arriving at Uganda's Entebbe airport and the station's 
Uganda correspondent said the soldiers did not fly in from the CAR.

 Pikkie Greeff,

The South African National Defence Union general secretary, 
Pikkie Greeff,told the M&G that soldiers said they had not been 
in the CAR to do any training of the CAR army.

"Soldiers who were on the ground have told us that they never 
trained anybody. 
All along they were there to protect assets and President Bozizé," 
he said. "We should not be in CAR. At the very least, the SANDF 
misled Parliament about their intentions, which was to guard and 
not to train. Why else would you send parachute and reconnaissance 
soldiers when you foresee a conflict?"

Although the competence of South African soldiers is not in question, the 
force was ill-equipped for war, unlike the rebels. This forced them to move 
their base to an area next to the Bangui M'Poko International Airport after 
Sunday's tense ceasefire, where French troops are based, so that they could 
get some backing should they be attacked again.

Leaders of the SANDF knew from as early as October 2011 that the 
troops deployed in the CAR needed weapons for combat.

When Major General Duma Mdutyana of the SANDF's joint operational 
headquarters visited peacekeeping missions in the CAR in October 2011, 
the soldiers told him about their problems.

Military co-operation agreement

The SANDF's in-house Soldier magazine reported in January last year 
that a Colonel Ramoshaba, who presented a situational analysis to the 
delegation, complained about "the lack of medical evacuation 
procedures and the poor serviceability of vehicles".

A member of the SANDF delegation said they were "waiting for J Ops 
[joint operations] to initiate a formal tasking for an air ambulance for air 
medical evacuation".

But 17 months later, the troops' requests had not been fulfilled.

This week, opposition parties called for a debate in Parliament about the 
mission and are particularly concerned about the reasons why South Africa 
saw fit to deploy troops to the CAR.

A former defence minister and now the Congress of the People leader, 
Mosiuoa Lekota, who signed the first military co-operation agreement with the 
CAR, called for the soldiers to be withdrawn.

Reports that the department of international relations and co-operation
 (Dirco) was not informed about the sending of an additional 200 soldiers 
to CAR in January this year represents a serious break in protocol makes 
the situation even more difficult for Zuma.

According to sources with detailed knowledge of events, the department should 
have been informed because it is standard practice that foreign diplomatic 
relations must be worked out before troops are sent to another country, such as  
the CAR.

"For some reason, this time was quite different and Dirco woke up to find that 
South African troops had been deployed to CAR," said a source.

Irritation

It appears that the reinforcement of the CAR mission in January was 
neatly sealed between Minister of Defence and Military Veterans 
Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and Zuma.

Holomisa said the speed with which Zuma authorised the additional 
deployment of soldiers on January 2 was suspect. 
Parliament was still in recess.

"In December, Bozizé made an appeal to say, please help," Holomisa said. 
"Nosiviwe was sent to CAR to speak to him; she came with a report that she 
presented to the president who then decided to deploy more troops.

"There was then this rushed-up process to approve 400 soldiers."

Holomisa said South African soldiers were "an irritation" to the people of the CAR.

"The people we were fighting [rebels] are now in charge. Why are we still there? 
We didn't sign an agreement with the rebels; we signed with Bozizé, who's now out. 
So we can't still continue with the mission," he said.

Lekota said South Africa was interfering in the domestic affairs of the CAR.

"When you are supporting a country, the people in that country are in the front line. Not a 
single French soldier appears to have been shot," Lekota said.

The Ministry of Defence has denied that there was any truth in claims that Zuma went 
against the advice 

of Mapisa-Ngakulu in sending troops to the CAR in January.

Source

CAR: How Bozizé Lost His Piece Of Africa

After 10 years in power, the statesman had few friends offering to help to fight off the rebels.

President François Bozizé's family and bodyguards were watching Cartoon Network when I went to meet him at the presidential palace in Bangui a few years ago.

At the time, there were allegations that he had ordered his troops, the Central African Republic army known as FACA, to adopt a scorched-earth policy in the northeast of the country, and I was part of a delegation from the Pan-African Parliament sent to investigate. Bozizé's eyes were half shut and he spoke like an audiotape being played at slow speed.

There had been damning reports from organisations including the International Crisis Group and Human Rights Watch claiming that Bozizé's soldiers had been killing, raping and looting in the area around Birao, a dry, isolated town sandwiched between Sudan's Darfur region and southeastern Chad.

I flew to Birao, much against the wishes of Bozizé's handlers, on a French military plane – the French were still giving Bozizé support back then, and were providing logistics to the FACA as they terrorised the locals. Birao was a burnt-out ruin and most of its residents had fled into the bush to escape government soldiers, many of whom were considerably younger than voting age.

Bozizé was hated in Birao, as he was in many other parts of the Central African Republic. The reasons for this were numerous. In the case of Birao, promises made by successive leaders over the decades, of which Bozizé was only the most recent, tended to be forgotten – schools had no teachers or books, hospitals had no doctors or medicine and roads linking the area to the rest of the country simply do not exist.

To be the president of the Central African Republic, whether one reaches that position through the ballot box or through the gun, for all intents and purposes means ruling over a small, decaying tropical city on the banks of the Oubangui River. Presidential powers barely reach beyond the limits of Bangui.
During almost all of Bozizé's 10 years in office, large parts of the country were out of his control.

 Supporters of former president Ange-Félix Patassé, deposed by Bozizé in a military coup in 2003, together with other anti-government elements – in particular, Michel Djotodia – kept much of the country in a state of more or less permanent revolt.

 


Bozizé had been forcibly trying to remove Patassé from power since 2001, but in those days Patassé was able to rely on the support of troops loyal to Congolese rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, who now awaits trial in The Hague for alleged war crimes in the Central African Republic.

Skirmishes in 2003 turned into large-scale rebellion in 2004 and Djotodia led an alliance of several rebel groups calling themselves the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity. His bush war finally yielded fruit last Saturday, when his most recent rebel alliance, Seleka, entered Bangui, and headed straight for the presidential palace, where Djotodia proclaimed himself president.

During his last year in office, Bozizé could count on very few friends in high places. The French were no longer interested in helping – their troops remained in Bangui only to protect French interests in the Central African Republic, which these days mean French nationals.

Historically, the former colonial power has had a heavy hand in the country, but its main economic interest there – the Areva uranium mine – was mothballed two years ago when the uranium price dropped in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. Bozizé's other erstwhile close friend, Chadian president Idriss Déby, who supported the coup that brought Bozizé to power, did not offer to help fight off this latest menace. As the noose tightened, President Jacob Zuma seemed to be his only remaining friend.

There is much speculation about why this is the case and, chances are, many of the questions surrounding this odd friendship will emerge soon. Despite South Africa's offer to train the FACA, Bozizé always feared that he'd be relieved of power in much the same way as many of his predecessors had been, so he played the dangerous game of keeping his army weak just in case they should decide to turn on him. It was a losing wager. The end came swiftly.

By December last year, the writing was on the wall – Seleka forces had taken over much of the country before the president reluctantly agreed to participate in peace talks held in the Gabonese capital, Libreville. With little left under his control outside Bangui, Bozizé still displayed his arrogance by refusing to negotiate and turning up late at the talks.

When the agreement was eventually signed in January, Seleka had dropped the condition that would have bothered Bozizé the most – the demand that he step down. Instead, a government of national unity was to be formed, with the occupant of the presidential palace remaining unchanged.

Seleka got to name the prime minister and elections were to be held within three years. Bozizé reluctantly agreed to the choice of Nicolas Tiangaye, a prominent human rights activist, as prime minister. But he made no move on one of the other key demands agreed to in Libreville – sending South African troops back to South Africa.

Perhaps if he had done what he had agreed to do, he would still be living in Bangui, and a number of South African families would not be mourning the loss of their loved ones, who died in a country many of them had never even heard of.

David Smith is a director of Johannesburg-based Okapi Consulting. He lived in Bangui where he set up Radio Minurca (now Radio Ndeke Luka), the only independent radio station in the country.

Source

What Happened In Bangui?

Something just does not sound right about the narrative we are being told about what happened in the Central African Republic. We are told the SA unit faced 3000 attackers and they killed hundreds of attackers. They themselves suffered 13 deaths and 46 injured.

Unfortunately evidence of dead rebels is only coming from the SA government and nowhere else. If hundreds of rebels were killed, common sense dictates that an even higher number would have been injured. Therefore it is simple logic that hospitals in Bangui would have been overwhelmed with casualties. Organisations such as Medicins Sans Frontiers and the Red Cross would have been reporting and issuing statistics on these casualties.

So far all I have heard from these organisations is them complaining that their clinics have been looted just like other businesses around Bangui. Surely they would not have forgotten to mention a high number of casualties, if looting was affecting their ability to treat such casualties.

There has also been claims that a South African soldier was taken aside and shown a warehouse 'stacked to the ceiling' with dead bodies. The insinuation was that they were all victims of South Africa's fighting prowess.

Again the odd thing is that apart from the South African government nobody else is talking about stacks of dead bodies. Certainly not the Red Cross, Medicins Sans Frontiers nor the French who also have boots on the ground.

Maybe I was missing something, I thought, so I went and googled 'Central African Republic casualties'. Both Google Search and Google News came up with long lists of links all of them about the South African casualties, a couple about an Indian who was accidentally shot by the French.

None of them was about casualties on the rebel or even the CAR government side. Could it be that there were no casualties when the rebel and government forces fought each other?

This seems odd. However if you take three other facts into consideration things begin to make sense a little bit.

1. Bozize was helped to escape by South Africa soldiers which suggests that they, not CAR army units, were providing his security.

2. Some SA soldiers have claimed that the first shots at them were fired by CAR army units and not rebels. This suggests that the CAR army could have been part of the rebellion.

3. CAR army generals and police chiefs have already declared allegiance to the rebel leader. These are not the actions of people who were passionate about defending Bozize or those helping prop up Bozize.

This suggests that the so called CAR army either did not put up a fight or were already on the rebels side, leaving the South Africans with the short end of the very short stick propping up Bozize. There is a distinct possibility that this was a fight of all sides in CAR versus outsiders propping up Bozize. That would also explain the absence of any meaningful independently verified casualties on both sides of the CAR conflict. They did not really fight each other.

This leaves one wondering, was South Africa trying its hand at imperialism? What were they doing, propping up a man whose very own army could not be trusted to be loyal to him. We definitely can't say they were defending democracy because Bozize was not a democrat. He seized power violently.

Read Here

Central African Republic: Situation in hospitals catastrophic

"The corridors in the Community Hospital of Bangui are overflowing with injured people. The doctors and nurses can no longer cope with emergencies," said Dr Bonaventure Bazirutwabo of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) after visiting the hospital. "The situation is catastrophic. The wounded are taking up every available space in the hospital, and the sick cannot be treated."

Nearly 200 people wounded in clashes have been admitted to the city's main hospitals, including around 40 who are still awaiting emergency surgery. The hospitals, like the entire city, are currently without running water and a continuous supply of electric power; soon they will also be without fuel. Because they do not have adequate stocks of medicines, the main hospitals in Bangui can no longer admit new patients. The ICRC has delivered 150 litres of fuel to the Community Hospital, the city's main medical centre, for its generator.

"It remains difficult for us to move about safely within the city," said Georgios Georgantas, head of the ICRC delegation in Bangui. "Looting is unfortunately still going on. We are determined to bring aid without delay to everyone who needs it, including the injured and medical personnel. We are doing everything we can to achieve this aim despite the current situation."

Central African Red Cross Society volunteers have assisted nearly 400 people by providing them with first aid or, in the most serious cases, by taking them to medical facilities. Today they are helping to manage mortal remains at the mortuary and in the city's neighbourhoods, and to bury them. The ICRC is supporting their efforts by providing them with first-aid supplies, fuel and disinfectant.

Source

Central African Republic: Bodies Found in the Capital

Volunteers have collected 78 bodies from the streets of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, since rebel fighters seized control of the city last week, the Central African Red Cross reported Friday. Many of the bodies lacked identification documents, a Red Cross official told Agence France-Presse, and other medical officials said it was not immediately clear whether the dead were rebels, government soldiers, foreign soldiers or civilians. Hospitals in the capital are overflowing with rebels and others wounded in the fighting, above, officials said. A loose coalition of armed groups from the country’s northeast ousted President François Bozizé on Sunday; the rebels, who are reported to have child soldiers among their ranks, accused Mr. Bozizé of breaching the terms of a January peace deal. He first fled to Cameroon but has since requested refuge in Benin, news reports said Friday.

Source

RACIST TORNADO’S????

25th June 2013

So there was a tornado in the free state this weekend that was so bad that people died and property was destroyed, a tragedy in any terms! But once again as soon as the story hit the media there were people ranting and raving about how it affected only black people who live in shacks and never hurt white folks????? You bunch of sick fucktards!!!! It affected anyone who was in its path! And the fact that it affected more black people than white people is because there are so many black people! I suppose that if America or Russia or somebody else for that matter fired a missile into a South African city it would be our fault that more black folks were killed than white folks???

So let me get this straight, we now have lightning that targets black people and tornados that seek out black people?? Well if this is true, surely you cant believe it is our fault? No sir !! Best you start making amends to God, Allah, Buddah, Krishna, Sponge bob, Jah Rastaffarri and however else is out there because it seems they are as tired of your shit as the rest of us! Seriously we are just normal folks, and don’t control forces of nature. So if these forces of nature are targeting you and your people then you have have much bigger problems than a handful of white folks, so better you start consulting with the ancestors, witch doctors or the kungfu panda to protect you from these forces that are gathering against you.

It is actually quite sad that no matter what happens you instantly blame white folks or “apartheid” all it really proves is that you have absolutely no ability to solve or overcome anything – in short you are a bunch of pathetic losers that cant wipe their own asses!! You were handed the keys to the kingdom and all that you have done is turn it into a slum! It is half way through the year and thousands of scholars still have not received the text books they require to get an education, which probably means they will pass this year regardless of how they perform, leaving us with yet another bunch of slackers and dimwits entering the job market next year. And so you will continue rotting this society from the inside and keep blaming the whites and “apartheid” until all the whites are either dead or living in other countries?? But then not even that will stop you, no – then you will blame all your misfortune on the fact that the whites left!!

Get a life you whiney bunch of slackers!!!

http://nubbi.wordpress.com/2012/06/25/racist-tornados/

Painful Facts

Courts, the only institution we still trust, must tackle police torture

Torture has become routine within the Barberton police station and probably in the service as a whole.

In the early 2000s I wrote a story that landed me in the can – jail. This was a policeman’s revenge after I had published a story implicating him and a friend in the robbery and kidnapping of a sangoma.

But if this “good” officer thought he was teaching me a lesson, he was sadly mistaken. 

After the cell door had clanked shut, instead of being given the expected bad treatment by the others in the cell – you know, “hey give us a cigarette…” – I was treated to a whole night of valuable information on the torture methods of the then Barberton CID members.

Naturally, when other cops heard I’d been incarcerated, they were not too happy with their colleague, as they knew the awaiting-trial suspects would surely have briefed me on their own experiences. 

Ah! The power of being a well-known and respected journalist.

This incident came to mind recently with news that seven Barberton CID officers – yes seven – are to face assault charges after sharing their torture tactics with an armed robbery suspect. They are scheduled to stand trial on May 3.

Calling these guys CIDs (Criminal Investigation Department) is a misnomer. Instead they should be called STDs, (Suspect Torture Department).

Every year in Barberton at least two police officers face charges of assaulting suspects. What is more disturbing is that invariably they are let off on some technicality; not surprising, since their colleagues are the ones who take the complainant’s statement. 

Demonstrating just how brazen the cops have become, Melusi Mahlalela was being taken to court on the morning of September 22 (he’d been arrested the previous day on a charge of pointing a fire arm), when the detective escorting him to court, one Bheki Nkosi, was ordered by a colleague to bring Mahlalela upstairs instead  – “so he can tell us the truth”.

The upstairs truth session began at 9:30am and lasted until 1:30pm. During that time, Mahlalela says, seven policemen took turns torturing “the truth” out of him. 

Remember my friend Lieutenant-Colonel Dries Joubert? Yes, the one who denied that Barberton has a drug problem. Well, Joubert is alleged to have said “moer him!” when he walked in to check how the interrogation was coming along!

After his four-hour truth session, Mahlalela was dumped back in his cell. 

Downstairs, police officers, when alerted by other detainees to the “dying” man in their cell, said they’d call an ambulance, but it never came. Only when the evening shift came on duty was an ambulance summoned. A policeman was heard to remark: “There’s no way we’re having this guy die here on our shift!”  

No doubt the cops will deny his story, but how can one not believe it?  Maybe, for a start, the police should be asked to explain: how come Mahlalela did not appear before court on that September 22 morning – and instead ended up in hospital for a month-and-a-half? 

So, what can be done about a situation where torture has apparently become routine within the Barberton police and probably in the service as a whole?

The only way this country can hope to put a stop to police torture, is for the judiciary to step up and start prosecuting these rogue elements. Continually letting them off on technicalities is clearly sending the wrong message.

The courts seem to be the only institution that we can still trust. God knows, all others are plagued with problems. Home Affairs stands out as another example.

The courts really need to look beyond the statements submitted as evidence by the police. After all, why would someone wake up one day and decide to charge seven police officers with assault?

Why should we be concerned about this matter? If the police are not brought to book for their torturers’ ways, tomorrow it could be you or me instead of just the “criminal class”.

http://www.noseweek.co.za/article/2947/Painful-facts

Robert McBride Not Guilty On All Charges

Former Ekurhuleni metro police chief Robert McBride has won his appeal against a conviction of drunken driving and attempting to obstruct justice.

The high court in Pretoria on Thursday concluded he was not guilty on all charges. 

"The appeal against conviction on both counts is upheld," Judges Cynthia Pretorius and Lettie Molopa-Sethosa said in their written judgment.

"The appellant is found not guilty on all charges and is discharged."

McBride was arrested in 2006 after crashing his official car on the R511 following a Christmas party.

Earlier this month, the two judges reserved judgment in McBride's appeal against his conviction, as well as his five-year jail sentence.

In September 2011, a Pretoria regional magistrate sentenced McBride to two years imprisonment for driving under the influence of alcohol and an effective three years imprisonment for attempting to obstruct the course of justice.

Under the influence

​Initially three of McBride's colleagues made statements supporting his version that he had not been drunk and did not leave the scene of the accident to evade justice. 

However, five months later they testified that he had been heavily under the influence of alcohol and systematically set about covering this up with their assistance.

In his appeal, McBride argued the three former colleagues had themselves been intimidated into changing their story. They were under investigation by the Organised Crime Unit (OCU) in a separate attempted murder matter and had been offered indemnity in exchange for statements against him.

McBride had previously clashed with the OCU. About a month before his colleagues changed their statements, he had written to the South African Police Service asking them to initiate an investigation into the possible involvement of some members of the OCU in cash-in-transit crimes.

In Thursday's judgment, Pretorius and Molopa-Sethosa wrote there was clear evidence that OCU members had manipulated the testimony of the three.

Describing the three as "self-confessed liars", the judges said the magistrate had erred in finding their testimony credible.

There were "several strange aspects" to McBride's behaviour after the accident, such as trying to get medical certificates from a variety of doctors and driving to Durban to see a doctor.

The state had not proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt, the judges concluded. "Although the appellant's action after the accident is suspect, it is not possible to draw the inference that the appellant was driving under the influence of intoxicating alcohol at the time beyond a reasonable doubt." 

http://mg.co.za/article/2013-03-28-mcbride-wins-appeal-against-drunk-driving-conviction

U.N. Aims To Approve Congo "Search And Destroy" Force

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council aims to approve on Thursday the creation of a special force that would carry out "targeted offensive operations" to wipe out armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, council diplomats said.

The 15-member Security Council was still negotiating on Wednesday a draft resolution to establish the so-called intervention brigade within the existing 20,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in Congo, known as MONUSCO.

The United States had raised concerns that there was not a clear enough distinction between the job of the intervention brigade and the existing peacekeepers, but Britain and France hoped a compromise had been reached, diplomats said.

One senior council diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the aim of the so-called intervention brigade as "search and destroy," unlike traditional peacekeeping operations which cannot open fire unless they are attacked.

According to the draft, MONUSCO would "carry out targeted offensive operations through the Intervention Brigade ... either unilaterally or jointly with the (Congo army), in a robust highly mobile and versatile manner ... to prevent expansion of all armed groups, neutralize these groups, and to disarm them."

It states that the intervention brigade would be made up of three infantry battalions, one artillery and one special force and reconnaissance company headquartered in Goma under the direct command of the MONUSCO force commander.

Diplomats say South Africa, Tanzania and Mozambique are the most likely candidates to supply the troops for the intervention unit. The draft resolution also says that a Congolese rapid reaction force should be created with the intention of taking over the work of the intervention brigade.

MONUSCO has a traditional peacekeeping mandate to protect civilians and support operations by the Congolese army in Congo - a country the size of Western Europe.

The draft resolution makes clear that the intervention brigade would be established "on an exceptional basis, and without creating a precedent or any prejudice to the agreed principles of peacekeeping."

DRONES TO MONITOR BORDER

Council diplomats said they would be watching the intervention brigade very closely as its success will be important for future peacekeeping operations.

African leaders signed a U.N.-mediated deal in February aimed at ending two decades of conflict in Congo's resource-rich east and paving the way for the Security Council to approve the creation of an intervention brigade.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed former Irish President Mary Robinson as his envoy to Africa's Great Lakes region to oversee implementation of the peace deal.

Eastern Congo has been overrun with Congolese and foreign armed groups, in particular the M23 rebels, who began taking parts of eastern Congo early last year, accusing the government of failing to honour a 2009 peace deal.

But earlier this month the M23 was wracked by infighting and hundreds of M23 rebels loyal to warlord Bosco Ntaganda fled into neighboring Rwanda or surrendered to U.N. peacekeepers after being routed by a rival faction.

Ntaganda, the fugitive Rwandan-born former Congolese general, walked into the U.S. Embassy in Rwanda and was last week transferred to the International Criminal Court, where he faces war crimes charges.

The draft Security Council resolution outlines MONUSCO's role in monitoring a U.N. arms embargo on Congo that would now include using unmanned surveillance drones to "observe and report on flows of military personnel, arms, or related materiel across the eastern border of the DRC." It will be the first time the United Nations has used such equipment.

The U.N. Security Council's Group of Experts, which monitors compliance with sanctions and an arms embargo on Congo, said in a report last year that Rwanda's defence minister was commanding the M23 revolt in Congo and that Rwanda was arming the rebels and supporting them with troops.

Rwanda - now a member of the Security Council - has strongly denied involvement.

http://za.news.yahoo.com/u-n-aims-approve-congo-search-destroy-force-171033143.html

SANDF releases names of SA soldiers killed in CAR

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) released the names of the soldiers who died in the Central African Republic (CAR) late on Tuesday.

"The minister of defence and military veterans, chief of the South African National Defence Force, chief of joint operations and chief of the South African Army wish to extend their sincerest condolences to friends and families of the deceased," a statement said.

Their names are as follows:

• Corporal Mokgadi Darius Seakamela
• Corporal Ntebaleng Andrew Mogorosi
• Lance Corporal Daniel Sello Molara
• Lance Corporal Lukas Mohapi Tsheke
• Rifleman Lesego Maxwell Hertzog
• Rifleman Zamani Jim Mxhosana
• Rifleman Xolani Dlamini
• Rifleman Vusumzi Joseph Ngaleka
• Rifleman Karabo Edwin Matsheka
• Rifleman Khomotso Paul Msenga
• Rifleman Maleisane Samuel Thulo
• Rifleman Motsamai William Bojane
• Rifleman Thabiso Anthon Phirimana

http://mg.co.za/article/2013-03-26-sandf-releases-names-of-sa-soldiers-killed-in-car

Central African Republic: Is this what our soldiers died for?

The lure of arms deals and diamonds – and possibly other mineral resources – sucked the ANC into the Central African Republic.

South African military involvement in the Central African Republic has from the start been entwined with ANC-linked deals, raising questions about the motivation for the disastrous deployment of South African troops to the troubled country.

The figure at the centre of the web is the politically connected businessperson and fixer Didier Pereira.

Pereira is currently partnered to the ANC security supremo and fundraiser, Paul Langa, and former spy chief Billy Masetlha. Their group has initiated several business projects in CAR, including some involving diamonds

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Read more CAR coverage

• Bangui is no stranger to armed revolt
• How Bozizé lost his piece of Africa
• Coup leaves South Africa out in the cold
• Abandoned in a ghost hospital
• CAR's football players in limbo after conflict
• CAR: Timely warnings were ignored

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Previously, he partnered with ANC hard man Joshua "General" Nxumalo and the ANC funding front, Chancellor House, in an initiative that involved security and attempts to gain a diamond export monopoly in the CAR.

Pereira, originally from Congo-Brazzaville, is a special adviser to the recently toppled CAR president, François Bozizé.

He has maintained business ties with powerful ANC security and intelligence figures during both the Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma presidencies.

Although the ANC figures who Pereira does business with has changed between presidencies, the nature of his dealings have remained consistent.

Quid pro quo?

As the security situation in the CAR deteriorated in October last year, Pereira brokered direct access to Zuma for Bozizé's son and CAR defence minister, Francis Bozizé, in a bid to "unlock a sensitive weapons delivery issue", the specialist publication Intelligence Online reported recently.

Bozizé Jnr does not appear to have got what he came for because of South Africa's statutory weapons trade controls, but Pereira's reported role as a facilitator of this key meeting is noteworthy.

A CAR diplomat in Pretoria, who did want to be named because of the fluid political situation back home, said that Pereira had lived in South Africa for "more than 20 years" and that he was a recognisable figure among embassy staff.

He also previously partnered with a notorious Zimbabwean arms dealer, John Bredenkamp, according to sources with a detailed knowledge of the central African region and company searches in South Africa.

Other South African-linked interests in the CAR include the Canadian-based gold exploration and mining company, Axmin. Its president and chief executive, George Roach, was also associated with UraMin, a politically well-connected uranium prospecting company, which is said to have enjoyed Thabo Mbeki's backing when it won a concession in the CAR.

The concession was later sold to the French nuclear multinational, Areva.

The oil exploration company, DIG Oil, which also enjoyed Mbeki-era political support, has an oil concession in the south west of the country.

To the rescue

Bozizé's rule of the CAR has been precarious after he toppled his predecessor, Ange-Félix Patassé, in a coup in 2003, which was condemned at the time by both Mbeki and his then-deputy, Zuma.

Bozizé won an election in 2005 that excluded Patassé from the ballot, but his grip on power was soon threatened by Patassé-linked rebels. As Bozizé's military situation worsened, he sought help from South Africa.

A joint South African Defence Force (SANDF) and defence department "fact-finding mission" went to the CAR in January 2006. A flurry of diplomacy between Pretoria and Bangui in April that year culminated in the then-defence minister, Terror Lekota, signing a co-operation agreement in defence, minerals and energy at the end of that month, which he followed up with an "onsite assessment" trip to the CAR in May.

Troops and civilians still in the country are in danger of revenge attacks. (AFP)

Pereira was quick off the mark. On May 18, a week after Lekota's return, he signed a memorandum of understanding with the CAR mining ministry. It envisaged the creation of a public-private partnership, Inala Centrafrique, according to documents of Inala and its business partners, which were obtained by the Mail & Guardian.

ANC stake

Inala Centrafrique was formally registered in August 2006. Over time, its shareholding was settled at a 35% stake for the CAR government and 65% going to a South African company, Serengeti Group Holdings. The latter was majority-owned by Nxumalo, whose notoriety during the ANC underground days was underscored by his part in the Virodene vitamins-for-Aids scandal.

Significant stakes also belonged to Pereira and the Chancellor House Trust, share registers show.

An Inala Centrafrique business proposal to the CAR government, dated July 6 2007, retrospectively confirmed that "the joint venture is a culmination of the accord signed by both … Mbeki … and Bozizé … during the meeting of the governments in South Africa in … 2006 for the two countries to work together."

It identified Nxumalo as chief executive and Pereira as chief operations officer.

While this deal was being hammered out behind the scenes, South Africa signed a formal, five-year defence co-operation agreement with the CAR on February 11 2007, involving both the deployment of South African troops and the provision of military equipment.

Zuma renewed the agreement in December last year, on the grounds of which, in the face of the growing crisis, he ordered a reinforcement of troops to the CAR in January this year.

Diamonds and arms

The Inala Centrafrique joint venture between the CAR government and Pereira, Nxumalo and the Chancellor House Trust was primarily a mechanism to buy diamonds from the CAR's small-scale miners.

But the plan had two other elements, which, if implemented, would give Inala and its ANC-linked shareholders total dominance of the CAR's diamond market.

The first was an initiative to create and equip, on behalf of the state, a police des mines, or mining police, to combat illegal diamond dealing.

Seleka troops hold their position near the presidential ­palace in Bangui soon after the coup. (AFP)

The second element, it appears from the documents and an interview with a would-be Inala business partner, was for Inala to be granted an export monopoly by the CAR government.

In other words, although its majority shareholding was privately held, Inala would have been endowed with part of the form and function of a state agency: a national diamond exporter with an associated police enforcement arm.

Dividends of more than $800-million over 10 years were envisaged.

In a further example of the conflation of South African state and ANC party interests, a Serengeti subsidiary partnered with a South African armoured vehicle business, Mechanology, in September 2007 to revamp decommissioned armoured vehicles that the SANDF had offered to donate to Bozizé.

The armoured vehicle deal broke down, apparently because there was a dispute over who would pay for the refurbishment.

Inala's attempts to control the CAR diamond mining industry fizzled out by March 2008.

New ANC partners

By then, the Zuma-linked faction of the ANC's security and intelligence apparatus appears to have inherited the relationship with Pereira from Serengeti.

At about the same time that Serengeti dropped the ball on the armoured vehicles and the Inala diamond deal collapsed, a company called Bagamoyo Investment Holdings was formed with Pereira as a founding director.

Chief among Pereira's co-directors in Bagamoyo is Langa who, like Nxumalo before him, comes with a heavy-hitting ANC security and intelligence pedigree, but also with strong whiffs of controversy.

He was suspended and later dismissed as chief executive of the Robben Island Museum after a forensic audit found a R25-million hole in the company accounts back in 2008.

Langa was head of security co-ordination at ANC headquarters in the late 1990s. His Zonkizizwe group of companies appear to perform both security and fundraising functions for the ANC.

Other directors in Bagamoyo included:

• Fabien Singaye, a former Rwandan diplomat who served as Bozize's personal adviser and is alleged to have played a central role in the purchase of CAR uranium assets by UraMin, a company with a number of South African links; and
• John Robertson, an IT specialist who works with Langa in the Zonkizizwe controlled Tsohle Technology Holdings.

Masetlha confirmed that Baga­moyo was set up to exploit opportunities in CAR.

Masetlha said: "Our role was to try and engage South African business persons to invest in the area. Pereira happened to be one of the people who knew CAR well. I agreed to get involved and spoke to Paul []."

Masetlha, who is recovering from a long illness, said he was hazy about the details but added that Lazarus Mbethe was brought in as well, because of his business acumen.

Masetlha, Pereira, Langa and Mbethe appear as directors in two other shelf companies, Evening Star Trading 665 and Universal Pulse Trading 117, both set up in November 2006.

Mbethe is heavily involved in mining. He was part of the Pitsa ya Sechaba consortium that partnered with Chancellor House and the Russian company, Renova, to form United Manganese of Kalahari, which controversially got manganese rights in Northern Cape.

(Photo: AFP)

Masetlha said he and his partners were trying to get involved in stabilising the country through development. Projects he recalled included the refurbishment of a hotel, which is understood to have been the Oubangui Hotel, with which Pereira has also been associated.

He confirmed Langa had been "there on the ground" frequently – "he's been in and out" – and had concerned himself particularly with security issues.

Most significantly, Masetlha confirmed the group had an interest in diamonds from the region and had owned a barge to be used for alluvial diamond mining somewhere upstream on the Ubangi River where the group had a diamond concession.

He said the group had also discussed upgrading some of the main roads and the airport, but little progress had been made because of the instability in the country.

"The problem was security … the SA government got involved in trying to help Bozizé at least beef up his personal protection," said Masetlha.

No comment

Masetlha and another South African businessperson who has contact with Pereira independently supplied the same cell number for him.

When the M&G contacted the number and asked for Pereira, the man who answered the phone said he was Pereira. But when the M&G identified itself and indicated it wished to talk about the CAR, the person who answered said it was a wrong number. He refused to give his name and hung up.

Mbethe said he was in a meeting and then hung up the second time the M&G phoned him.

Robertson said he was not involved in Bagamoyo and referred questions to Langa.

Attempts to contact Langa by phone were unsuccessful. Written questions faxed to him at his request were unanswered at the time of going to press.

A spokesperson for the presidency was unavailable to comment.

http://mg.co.za/article/2013-03-28-00-central-african-republic-is-this-what-our-soldiers-died-for