Six SA soldiers killed in CAR - witness

**curious george** · 24-03-2013, 15:32

2013-03-24 15:05

Bangui - At least six South African soldiers were killed in the Central African Republic in clashes with rebels who seized the capital Bangui on Sunday and overthrew President Francois Bozize, a Reuters witness said.
"I saw the bodies of six South African soldiers. They had all been shot. Their vehicles were also destroyed. Other South African soldiers came to recover the bodies," the witness said.

http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Si...tness-20130324

*Lets assume this will be confirmed

Some questions:

*Why does our gov perpetually keep on propping up "loser regimes"?
*What interests if any does SA hav in that aticilur shithole?
*Were these troops even legally depolyed on foreign soil?
*Do they have the right training/equipment?
*When "in harms way",does the sandf have the capacity to extract these soldiers if/when needed?Or are they the sacrificial lambs for so many of our failings?

**Gunservant** · 24-03-2013, 15:41

Hey CG. With regards to your questions 4 and 5: a friend in the SAAF told me today that if the SHTF, the airforce will have to charter aircraft to extract troops because the C130 fleet is in such a shambles with too few serviceable aircraft.
One of his friends deployed there told him they have been fighting solidly since Friday, and are now so low on ammunition that if they are attacked again, he doesn't know if they'll make it out. :(

The French are in control of the airport apparently, which is at least some good news.

He couldn't confirm any casualties...yet.

**Wanderin' Zero** · 24-03-2013, 15:50

20 min ago on Reuters:

The capital of the Central African Republic has fallen to the rebels and the South African troops are trying to get out.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...92M0AU20130324

**Wanderin' Zero** · 24-03-2013, 15:51

Oh, in passing… You know those South African mercenary organisations that were shut down by our government and how effective they were at containing rebel uprisings such as these at a fraction of the cost of maintaining a standing army…

**Gunservant** · 24-03-2013, 15:53

Originally Posted by Wanderin' Zero

Oh, in passing… You know those South African mercenary organisations that were shut down by our government and how effective they were at containing rebel uprisings such as these at a fraction of the cost of maintaining a standing army…

Eeben Barlow is laughing his head off right now...and rightly so I suspect. Maybe he can divert some of his men from theur current job in the horn-of-Africa and bail the SANDF out of their mess...for a fee of course!

**curious george** · 24-03-2013, 15:55

Originally Posted by Wanderin' Zero

Oh, in passing… You know those South African mercenary organisations that were shut down by our government and how effective they were at containing rebel uprisings such as these at a fraction of the cost of maintaining a standing army…

... but our gov is/was paranoid/scared of its own shadows!

**curious george** · 24-03-2013, 15:58

Btw, *RIP*!

(I'm just concerned that they prob paid for some connected person's business interest as the real reason for their deployment there,no proof,just sayin!)

**curious george** · 24-03-2013, 16:00

Originally Posted by Infidellic Pagan Scum

Eeben Barlow is laughing his head off right now...and rightly so I suspect. Maybe he can divert some of his men from theur current job in the horn-of-Africa and bail the SANDF out of their mess...for a fee of course!

I think he retired from that type of business.

Some press pics at the time of the initial deployment showed SA sf troops amongst the deployed troops.

**ady** · 24-03-2013, 16:10

RIP to the soldiers who died in service on deployment.

CG i think the ANC government likes to think of themselves as the big boys in Africa and we are showing our muscle by sending troops in as part of the AU when many other african countries can't afford buy toilet paper.

I think if we actually knew the true state of our security forces you we would be shocked. I also think that this government is running out of money, i have thaught this for some time now. This is due to corruption, misappropriation of funds, large government salaries and the welfare state that has been created. So money gets taken from the defence budget to supplement other areas and thats why we are in trouble. Add to this the high unemployment rate and wild cat strikes that have affected production and wages / salaries which means less tax money to waste.

**CorditeCrazy** · 24-03-2013, 16:24

A contact of mine said is a major clustor fuck up there at the moment, approx 3000 rebels stormed the capital and SANDF contingent got stuck trying to hold them off and didn't succeed. I'll guarantee when it becomes offical the casulaty figues will be frightening.

On a different note; one of the few SAAF Sqn that does work well, even with limited resources is 28Sqn. They will probably have every available aircraft and crew flying non stop till the powers that be tell them not to. They are an outfit we can be proud of.