Mil News Africa Military News Thread

[BravoZulu]

Obangame Express kicks off in Gabon
Obangame Express, an exercise sponsored by US Africa Command (AFRICOM) and designed to improve regional cooperation, kicked off on March 21 with an opening ceremony in Libreville, Gabon.

The annual exercise aims to enhance maritime domain awareness (MDA), information-sharing practices, and tactical interdiction expertise of Gulf of Guinea and West African nations to counter sea-based illicit activity.

OE18, now in its eighth year, is one of three U.S. Naval Forces Europe- Africa-facilitated regional exercises. The exercise is part of a comprehensive strategy by CNE-CNA/C6F and AFRICOM to provide collaborative opportunities amongst African forces and international partners that addresses maritime security concerns.

“It must be recognized that, in many respects, African states have taken the lead in pushing the importance of maritime security toward the top of the international agenda, forcing us to consider the ramifications of action, or inaction, in the maritime domain. African leadership in this area reflects a profound change both in how the world understands and defines security,” said U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Mark Camerer, director of logistics, U.S. Africa Command. “The maritime domain serves as the crossroad of national, regional and global interests. Be it security, economic or environmental interests, the maritime domain connects us all,” added Camerer.

The exercise will last eight days, with a two-phase underway portion that will encompass a regional framework and then transition to an emphasis on national patrols. Throughout, the maritime operations center (MOC) will exercise information sharing practices.

More: https://navaltoday.com/2018/03/23/obangame-express-kicks-off-in-gabon/?uid=5430

 

[BravoZulu]

Djibouti:

A German P-3C Orion maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft (MPRA) and its crew have returned to Djibouti to rejoin the fight against piracy as part of the EU NAVFOR-led operation Atalanta.
The P-3C, its crew and supporting staff deployed to the Horn of Africa area of operations on March 23 to work alongside the Spanish MPRA detachment which is permanently based in Djibouti.
The German aircraft will enhance the support that the Spanish MPRA already provides to Op Atalanta, with imagery intelligence, radar surface searches and surveillance.
Both the Spanish and German aircraft will be on task in the area of operations, monitoring developments and providing situational awareness on land and at sea to assist EU NAVFOR’s warships. The P-3C has been used to assist vessels under pirate attack in the past, working either alone or in coordination with other assets such as EU NAVFOR helicopters and warships.
Spain and Germany have both been deploying MPRAs to the area since the start of operation Atalanta in 2008.
https://navaltoday.com/2018/03/27/german-p-3c-orion-mpra-returns-to-djibouti/?uid=5430

 

[BravoZulu]

Nigeria:
The Polish Armaments Group (PGZ) holding company and Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) signed a letter of intent on 26 March covering the production of Beryl M762 assault rifles in Nigeria, the rifle’s manufacturer Fabryka Broni announced.

Signed by PGZ president Jakub Skiba and DICON director general Major General Bamidele Ogunkale, the memorandum determines three phases of technology transfer: initial assembling, partial manufacturing, and finally full production of the assault rifles at the Ordnance Factory Complex in Kaduna.

It was not announced how many rifles will be produced in Nigeria.

Nigeria’s 2017 federal budget proposal allocated NGN364 million (USD1 million) and NGN390 million respectively to establish production lines for the Beryl M762 and AK-47 assault rifles, the latter possibly being a reference to the OBJ-006, a Kalashnikov derivative unveiled by DICON in 2006.

The Beryl M762 is an export variant of the Polish military’s 5.56 mm Beryl wz. 96C service rifle that is chambered in 7.62×39 mm. It has accessory rails, uses standard AK-47 magazines, and has a fire selector with single shot, three-round burst, and full-automatic modes.

http://www.janes.com/article/78899/nigeria-to-manufacture-polish-assault-rifles

 

[bdpopeye]

Algeria..

Algerian military plane crash kills 257https://pilotonline.com/news/nation-world/world/article_d61a9a5e-e2d2-564d-a3a2-9c35861872f6.html

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — An Algerian military plane carrying soldiers and their families crashed soon after takeoff Wednesday into a field in northern Algeria, killing 257 people in what appeared to be the North African nation's the worst-ever plane crash.

Algeria's Defense Ministry said those killed included 247 passengers and 10 crew. The cause of the crash was unclear and an investigation has been opened.

Algerian authorities did not mention whether there were any survivors but one witness reported seeing some people jump out of the aircraft before it crashed at 7:50 a.m. Wednesday.


The flight had just taken off from the Boufarik military base, 30 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of the capital Algiers, for a military base in Bechar in southwest Algeria, according to Farouk Achour, the chief spokesman for the civil protection services. It was scheduled to make a layover in Tindouf in southern Algeria, home to many refugees from the neighboring Western Sahara, a disputed territory annexed by Morocco.

The Soviet-designed Il-76 military transport plane crashed in a farm field with no people nearby, Achour said.

Algerian TV Dzair said five people were in a critical state but it's unclear whether they were inside the plane when it crashed.

Footage from the scene showed thick black smoke coming off the field, ambulances and Red Crescent vehicles arriving at the crash site and body bags lined up in the field.

Several witnesses told Algerian TV network Ennahar they saw flames coming out of one of the planes' engines just before it took off. One farmer said some passengers jumped out of the aircraft before the accident.

"The plane started to rise before falling," an unidentified man lying on what seemed to be a hospital bed told Ennahar TV. "The plane crashed on its wing first and caught fire."


The victims' bodies have been transported to the Algerian army's central hospital for identification.

The prime minister's office said lawmakers and officials observed a minute of silence as a tribute to the victims.

The Il-76 model has been in production since 1970s and has an overall good safety record. It is widely used for both commercial freight and military transport. The Algerian military operates several of the planes.

It was the first crash of an Algerian military plane since February 2014, when a U.S.-built C-130 Hercules turboprop slammed into a mountain in Algeria, killing at least 76 people and leaving just one survivor.

The previous deadliest crash on Algerian soil occurred in 2003, when 102 people were killed after a civilian airliner crashed at the end of the runway in Tamanrasset. There was a single survivor in that crash.

Also in 2003, 10 people died when an Algerian Air Force C-130 crashed after an engine caught fire shortly after it took off from the air base near Boufarik, according to the Aviation Safety Network.

 

[berkut76]

How can you stuff 257 souls into the cargo bay of IL-76? Where they standing just like when riding public transportation? Simply unbelievable.

 

[rtomedic]

Aid Groups Seek to Raise $1.7B for DRC, Over Congo's Objections
As donors prepare to gather Friday in Geneva for a major aid conference to raise $1.7 billion for humanitarian needs in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the government of the central African nation is standing firm on its refusal to attend or cooperate.

The United Nations says more than 13 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in the sprawling Central African nation, which is full of mineral wealth, but substantially lacking in critical infrastructure and basic government services.

Aid agencies said it is crucial to intervene to alleviate crises in parts of the country the United Nations has put on par with Syria and Yemen.

The United Nations has declared three conflict-ridden regions in Congo, the Kasai, Tanganyika and South Kivu, as Level 3 emergencies, the most severe category. The United Nations says more than two million children are at risk of dying from severe acute malnutrition.

The Congolese government pushed back, saying the emergency classification was "based on facts that are not real."Presidential adviser Patrick Nkanga ...MORE

https://www.globalsecurity.org/mili...412-voa03.htm?_m=3n.002a.2264.ph0ao0037n.232b

 

[BravoZulu]

How can you stuff 257 souls into the cargo bay of IL-76? Where they standing just like when riding public transportation? Simply unbelievable.

Unfortunately, it's Northern Africa mate.....does more need to be said

 

[rtomedic]

Morocco to pull warplanes from Saudi-led coalition: Report
Morocco is reportedly to pull its warplanes out of a Saudi Arabia-led coalition, which has been pounding Yemen for more than three years now, citing a need for military buildup at home.

The coalition invaded the Arab world's most impoverished nation in March 2015 to put its Riyadh-allied former government back in the saddle. It has fallen short of the objective, while thousands have been killed and displaced as a result of the invasion.

The F16 aircraft are to be repatriated as the Army has been placed on high alert over heightened militancy in Western Sahara, the regional English-language The North Africa Post newspaper said on Saturday, citing Internet outlets.

The Polisario Front militants aim to end Morocco's presence in the Saharan region. They recently said they sought to set up a "capital" in the region, prompting Rabat to caution it would respond with force.

The announcement violates a 1991 United Nations-brokered ...MORE

https://www.globalsecurity.org/mili...presstv01.htm?_m=3n.002a.2266.ph0ao0037n.2345

 

[BravoZulu]

Morocco:
Morocco's air force is to withdraw its F-16 fighter aircraft from the Saudi-led coalition currently engaged in Yemen in order to bolster security capabilities at home.

News of the pullout came at the weekend amid reports of rising tensions between the Moroccan military and militants from the Polisario Front—a separatist group backed by Algeria that aims to rid the Western Sahara region of Moroccan interference. Morocco controls the vast majority of the Western Sahara territory, with a security wall and buffer zone keeping the Polisario Front and the Sahrawi people they represent confined to its arid interior.

According to sources from the air force, the move was not a pullout from the Saudi coalition itself, but rather a move to strengthen the Moroccan military capabilities, and said military action will be taken if the Polisario separatists set up any permanent structure or facility in the Sahara territory east of the Moroccan-built security wall. Polisario officials meanwhile announced their intentions to set up a capital in Bir Lahlou which would alter the buffer zone.

In 2009, Morocco purchased 18 single-seat F-16Cs and six two-seat F-16D in $841.9 million deal and comes equipped with AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles.

 

[rtomedic]

Eyes Over Africa: US Building Huge New Drone Base in Central Niger
The US military is building a new overseas military base in Niger, adding to its existing inventory of more than 800 bases in more than 70 countries, according to a recent dispatch from central Niger.

The Associated Press reported Monday that the US Air Force was constructing hangars and runways for armed MQ-9 Reaper drones to conduct flights around West Africa. The base is supposedly being built at the request of Niger's government.

US defense officials have not disclosed just how many deadly drones will call the new base home. The base's $110 million construction cost makes it the "largest troop labor construction project in US history," the AP reported, citing US Air Force officials.

The MQ-9 Reaper is arguably the most advanced drone in the US arsenal. The remotely piloted aircraft has a range of 1,150 miles, allowing it to provide strike support and intelligence gathering capabilities across West and North Africa from the new base outside of Agadez. The unmanned aircraft is larger than its MQ-1 Predator drone cousin, features laser designators for dropping GBU-12 Paveway II bombs, a synthetic aperture radar for integrating GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions, and the capability to carry an armament of four Hellfire air-to-ground anti-armor and ...MORE

https://www.globalsecurity.org/mili...sputnik01.htm?_m=3n.002a.2273.ph0ao0037n.23cs

 

[BravoZulu]

Mali:
Canada and El Slavador are to combine helicopter assets once both nations take over from Germany's current deployment to the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission Mali (MINUSMA).

While Germany currently has four NH90 helicopters for transport roles and four Tiger utility helicopters for protecting ground troops, Canada plans to bring just two CH-47 Chinooks for transport missions and four armed CH-146 Griffon helicopters. As the Griffon isn't well suited for full-scale ground attack like the Tiger, it will be resigned to providing escort to the Chinook.

The role of protecting troops therefore will fall to El Salvador, who is also due to deploy six MD500 helicopters—or two helicopter units of three rotorcraft.

One of the units has been operating out of Timbuktu in the country's north since 2015. Another trio will deploy in July and is expected to work alongside Canada at the UN mission's base in Gao, in northeast Mali.

The UN would also like Canada to allow the Griffons to do double-duty as light transport helicopters, with El Salvador providing the escort.

 

[Wallensi]

Morocco severs ties with Iran, accusing it of backing Polisario Front

Morocco will sever diplomatic ties with Iran over Tehran’s support for the Polisario Front, a Western Sahara independence movement, the Moroccan foreign minister said on Tuesday.
Morocco claimed Western Sahara after colonial Spain left, but Polisario fought a guerrilla war for independence for the Sahrawi people until a U.N.-backed ceasefire.
Morocco will close its embassy in Tehran and will expel the Iranian ambassador in Rabat, Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita told reporters.
He said that Iran and its Lebanese Shi’ite ally, Hezbollah, were supporting Polisario by training and arming its fighters, via the Iranian embassy in Algeria.


“Hezbollah sent military officials to Polisario and provided the front with ... weapons and trained them on urban warfare,” Bourita said.
Algeria, Morocco’s neighbor, hosts camps of displaced from the conflict region and Polisario members. It was not immediately possible to get Iranian reaction to the Moroccan accusation. Iran has backed Polisario in the past.
The Western Sahara region has effectively been split by an earthen wall separating an area controlled by Morocco that it claims as its southern provinces and territory controlled by the Polisario, with a U.N.-mandated buffer zone between them.

More here=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...of-backing-polisario-front-idUSKBN1I23VF?il=0

 

[rtomedic]

New Study Links African Conflict to Lack of Term Limits
This week, Chad's parliament voted to introduce a new constitution that will allow two more terms for President Idriss Deby, who has led the country since 1990. On May 17, Burundians will vote on a constitutional amendment that would enable President Pierre Nkurunziza, president since 2005, to stay in office an additional 16 years.

And in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a worsening humanitarian crisis unfolds while President Joseph Kabila refuses to step down, despite reaching the end of his mandated time in office nearly 18 months ago.

An analysis by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) earlier this year found that less than 40 percent of countries have enforced constitutional term limits, and leaders in just 15 countries have stepped down after two terms.

An author of that study says the consequences can be severe.

Joseph Siegle is the director of research at ACSS and worked on the report ...MORE

https://www.globalsecurity.org/mili...503-voa03.htm?_m=3n.002a.2282.ph0ao0037n.23nt

 

[Wallensi]

At least 45 dead in attack on Nigerian village, police say

At least 45 people died in an attack on a village in northern Nigeria, a police official told Reuters on Sunday, the latest in a string of incidents underscoring insecurity in parts of the country.
President Muhammadu Buhari won Nigeria’s 2015 elections partly on promises to bring security to Africa’s largest economy and most populous nation, but has struggled to fulfill those pledges. He is now seeking a second term in February 2019.
His critics and opponents question his track record tackling the multitude of conflicts that plague Nigeria, from Boko Haram and a thriving Islamic State West Africa insurgency in the northeast, to clashes between farmers and herders in the hinterlands that have left hundreds dead.
It was not immediately clear why the Gwaska village in the northern state of Kaduna was attacked on Saturday.
“Yesterday we recovered 12 corpses and today we retrieved 33,” Austin Iwar, Kaduna’s commissioner of police, told Reuters by phone.
The village, in the Birnin-Gwari area of Kaduna, lies near an area known for banditry, where thick forests provide remote hideouts from law enforcement.
More here=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...igerian-village-police-say-idUSKBN1I70U5?il=0

 

[rtomedic]

Report: US Mission Was Overwhelmed by Unprecedented IS Force in Niger
A U.S. Special Forces mission that resulted in the deaths of four American soldiers and four Nigerien soldiers was plagued by problems up and down the chain of command but was ultimately done in by an unprecedented show of force at the hands of an Islamic State-linked terror group, an investigation found.

The findings are part of a long-awaited report released Thursday on what went wrong during a two-day span in October 2017 near the village of Tongo Tongo, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the Nigerien capital, Niamey

"I take ownership," General Thomas Waldhauser, the commander of U.S. Africa Command, told reporters at the Pentagon. "I will ensure the lessons learned are communicated to all levels within AFRICOM."
The report, six months in the making, includes thousands of pages of notes gathered by military investigators who returned to the site of the ambush, examining forensic evidence and talking to 143 witnesses, including 37 survivors of the ambush itself.

Critical missteps

An eight-page summary of the findings concluded there was "no single failure or deficiency" but rather a series of critical missteps stemming from a lack of training, a lack of preparation for the missions that day and a lack of proper equipment ...MORE

https://www.globalsecurity.org/mili...510-voa01.htm?_m=3n.002a.2288.ph0ao0037n.23ua

 

[rtomedic]

US Donates Military Aircraft to Cameroon
The United States has given Cameroon two military aircraft to assist in the fight against Boko Haram militants. It adds to armored vehicles, U.S.-led training on landmine detection and the presence of U.S. Marines in the country.

This is the sound of one of the two planes donated by the U.S. taking off from the military air base in Yaounde on a reconnaissance flight Friday. On board are Cameroon defense minister Joseph Beti Assomo and the U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon Peter Henry Barlerin.

The two planes, according to Joseph Beti Assomo, are specialized in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Each of the C208 aircraft possess inbuilt cameras that could capture images from the ground for up to 10 kilometers away.

Joseph Beti Assomo says he is particularly grateful because pilots and other crew members of the aircraft have been trained by the U.S. and the maintenance of the equipment will be assured for two years by the United States.

He says Cameroon is very grateful to the people of America who have not relented in helping its military to combat Boko Haram terrorism. He says his country's military will use the aircraft to protect not only its citizens and national territory from Boko Haram atrocities, but will also join troops of the Lake Chad Basin Commission to free Nigeria, Chad and Niger from the pain inflicted on them by terrorists. ...MORE


https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2018/05/mil-180513-voa02.htm?_m=3n.002a.2290.ph0ao0037n.23x8

 

[rtomedic]

US Weighs Deep Cuts to Special Operations Forces in Africa
Tentative plans to draw down the number of U.S. special operations commandos deployed in Africa are drawing mixed reactions from American military experts.

The New York Times first reported the plan this week, saying the reduction could decrease the number of commandos on the continent from about 1,200 to 700 over the next three years. Although Pentagon officials have agreed on the general outlines of the reductions, final decisions haven't been made, military officials told VOA.

The proposal followed a Pentagon review of an incident last October in which four U.S. Green Berets were ambushed and killed while on patrol in Niger. Pentagon investigators found multiple failings, including inadequate training and oversight. The incident prompted calls from some in Congress to reduce the U.S. footprint in Africa's Sahel region, one of the most volatile in the world

In a statement to VOA, Major Sheryll Klinkel, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said the U.S. was constantly assessing its allocation of forces around the globe and adjusting based on needs ...MORE

https://www.globalsecurity.org/mili...606-voa02.htm?_m=3n.002a.2310.ph0ao0037n.24kp

 

[rtomedic]

US Soldier Killed & 4 Wounded in Somalia Firefight
The U.S. soldier who was killed during an ambush attack in Somalia on Friday has been identified as an eight-year Army veteran from Arizona who had previously served in Afghanistan

Staff Sgt. Alexander W. Conrad, 26, of Chandler, had been supporting Operation Octave Shiel, a joint coalition effort by U.S., Kenyan and Somali soldiers to drive out the al Qaeda-affiliated group, al-Shabab, U.S. defense Department officials said Saturday.

Conrad and other coalition soldiers came under mortar and small-arms fire in Jubaland, about 217 miles southwest of Mogadishu, the Somali capital
The soldier died “of injuries sustained from enemy indirect fire,” the Defense Department said in a statement.

Four other service members were wounded.

President Donald Trump on Friday offered his condolences after the Somalia attack.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the families of our serviceman who was killed and his fellow servicemen who were wounded in Somalia,” Trump tweeted. “They are truly all HEROES.” ...MORE WITH VIDEO

https://americansecuritytoday.com/us-soldier-killed-4-wounded-somalia-firefight-learn-videos/

 

[rtomedic]

South Sudan Rivals Meet Face-to-Face in Ethiopia
South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar met Wednesday for their first face-to-face meeting in two years.

The meeting in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, comes amid efforts to end the world's youngest country's nearly five-year civil war, which has killed tens of thousands of people and forced about 4 million to flee their homes.

The outcome of the much-anticipated meeting is unknown, but many observers are paying close attention.

Casie Copeland, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said if the meeting does not go well, and Machar and Kiir walk away, it will call into question whether the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional trade bloc of eight African countries, can move forward with some kind of peace process.

"No one has a great idea of who could take over a process other than IGAD. And if IGAD didn't succeed, why would anyone else be able to?" Copeland ...MORE

South Sudan Rivals Meet Face-to-Face in Ethiopia

www.globalsecurity.org

 

[BravoZulu]

Cameroon:
The Cameroonian military has received new Panthera T6 armoured personnel carriers (APCs) from Minerva Special Purpose Vehicles (MSPV), sources in the Cameroonian Defence Forces (CDF) confirmed to Jane's.

A Cameroonian military source said the new vehicles were delivered to the elite Rapid Intervention Battalions (BIR) for use in urban environments as part of Operation 'Chacal' (Jackal): the BIR's counter-insurgency deployment in the southwest and northwest regions.

Photographs posted on social media in September showed two Panthera T6s with protected weapon stations being unloaded from shipping containers under the supervision of BIR officers, but it is likely the total number is higher.

https://www.janes.com/article/83730/cameroon-s-bir-takes-delivery-of-panthera-t6-vehicles