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SA Peace Troops' Loose Cannons in Africa

Business Day (Johannesburg)
NEWS
September 11, 2006
Posted to the web September 11, 2006

By Wyndham Hartley
Cape Town
South African peacekeeping troops in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and
the Sudan are losing enough arms, ammunition and military ordinance to sustain
a small war.
They are serving in the three troubled regions as part of African Union and
United Nations peacekeeping operations.
Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota on Friday said about 50000 rounds of
ammunition, 97 mortar bombs, 46 R-4 assault rifles, three light machine guns,
two pistols and two grenades had been lost or stolen in the course of peace-
support missions. He was replying to a question from Democratic Alliance MP Roy
Jankielsohn.
Lekota said, "The losses have occurred either as a result of equipment being
lost while on patrol, equipment being stolen while stored in both secure and
insecure facilities, and during ambushes on members."
In Burundi, Lekota said, 22000 rounds of 5,56mm calibre ammunition for R-4s had
been stolen from stores in Bujumbura. The investigation into the incident was
not yet complete.
Two years ago 80 mortar bombs were stolen while they were unguarded.
Two soldiers had their firearms, one a pistol and the other an assault rifle,
stolen from locked cabinets in their tents where they had left them.
A corporal saw a group of Burundians in the base and managed to hold two of
them. It was found that three R-4 magazines with 90 rounds, a sleeping bag, an
ammunition vest, a flack jacket and a mattress had been stolen from him. "The
member will be charged with the negligent loss of equipment."
Lekota also reported that in an incident in Sudan as part of Operation Cordite,
32 South African soldiers were ambushed and disarmed by about 200 armed men.
Four vehicles, 34 R-4 5,56mm rifles, three 7,62mm light machine guns, 37 battle
jackets, several radios and several thousand rounds of ammunition were stolen
in the attack.
The soldiers were told to cram into a vehicle and leave. They reached Abdul
Shakor checkpoint where they reported the incident and contacted their base.
Also in the Sudan, five men entered a camp at Kassab by crawling underneath the
fence. The suspects held the section commander and a guard at gunpoint and
forced them into a tent where other members were sleeping. A light machine gun
and eight R-4 rifles were stolen.


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