defenceWeb
Written by defenceWeb -
South African soldiers at a MONUSCO FIB medal parade.
Thohoyandou-based 15 SA Infantry Battalion is currently flying the South African flag in the UN Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) in DR Congo as part of the world’s body’s MONUSCO peacekeeping mission.
The unit has been on station in the beleaguered central African country since December with indications, at present, that it could remain in place for longer than the allotted deployment period. This is, according to the Directorate: Corporate Communications of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF), because of possible revisions to rotation dates.
“The current fluctuating situation (in DR Congo) as well as UN guidelines state resumption of uniformed personnel rotations shall be based on extraordinary transitional measures based on rigorous quarantine regime to mitigate transmission of COVID-19,” a statement said.
Major General Dube: the soldier at the pandemic frontline
By
By Kevin Ritchie
Major General Patrick Njabulo Dube knows all about pandemics. During his last tour of duty in Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), he would tell visitors that his mandate as the UN’s Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) commander had three legs: security, political and pandemic.
At first it was Ebola, but by the time he finished his extended tour as FIB commander, Ebola – the feared haemorrhagic fever - had been eradicated from the DRC, only to be replaced by Covid 19.
“Thank God, we never lost a soldier to Ebola – or Covid 19,” he said. The battle-hardened general has lost troops in combat though. His voice softens. “It’s never easy to lose a soldier, but I know that every time I put my uniform on, I put my life at risk.”