On Tuesday, ATMIS Deputy Force Commander for Operations & Plans, Maj. Gen. Marius Ngendabanka, and Sector Five Commander, Col. Oscar Hatungimana, visited Xawadley & Garsale Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) in Middle Shabelle to assess troop welfare & preparedness.
They also met Somali National Armed Forces (SNAF) officers responsible for regional security in Hiran. Both officers commended the Burundi contingent for their strong relations with the Somali Security Forces (SSF) in Hirshabelle State.
The DRC has already received its attack aircraft
They are equipped with missiles, bombs fired at high altitude, it also has a 20 mm cannon and electro-optical cameras for reconnaissance and surveillance missions.
Democratic Republic of Congo ordered “several” Mwari aircraft from the South African defense firm Paramount Group, according to a 2023 Sept. 13 company news release.
The purchase followed Paramount’s delivery of equipment to Mozambique, where the Mwari is already operational. According to the firm, the aircraft is designed for a wide range of missions, such as counterinsurgency, border patrol, precision strike, reconnaissance and surveillances.
The aircraft, touted as requiring a minimal logistical footprint, can operate in remote and austere environments as well as equip different payloads.
“With decades of experience in asymmetrical warfare, we’ve designed the Mwari as a tool that is not only robust but incredibly adaptable, fitting the needs of modern militaries in Africa and around the world,” Steve Griessel, the chief executive of Paramount Group, said in a statement last year.
Paramount also announced during DSEI it integrated “advanced weapons systems” on the Mwari, noting it will disclose specifics “at a later date.” Weapons testing and certification ae expected later in 2023 or in early 2024, the news release stated.
The cost-effective Mwari multirole aircraft can be deployed in border patrol, counter insurgency missions, forward air control, forward airdrop and resupply, armed reconnaissance, and electronic intelligence (ELINT) and communication intelligence (COMINT) missions. Other mission capabilities include internal security, disaster management and maritime patrol.
Mwari aircraft design details
Incorporating a twin-boom design, the Mwari aircraft features airframe constructed using meal and composite materials. The longitudinal booms at empennage feature a pair of vertical stabilisers joined by a horizontal stabiliser.
The high-wing design improves its visibility for the crew, while allowing operations from unprepared airfields. The modular design also supports the integration of different mission systems for a range of military operations.
The aircraf has a length of 10.5m, wing span of 12m and a height of 4m. The maximum take-off weight of the aircraft is 3,800kg and maximum payload capacity with full fuel load will be more than 800kg.
Mwari cockpit features
The aircraft features a multi-function IFR glass cockpit, which cockpit accommodates two crew members in tandem seating layout. It can be optionally installed with Martin Baker Mk16 or Mk17 ejection seats.
The cockpit features a large vertical separation and will offer optimum view for the crew.
Armament aboard Mwari
Mwari is e armed with a 20mm cannon integrated into the fuselage. The aircraft features six wing-mounted hard points for carrying a combination of weapons.
The hard points can be added with surface-to-air missiles, rocket launchers and general-purpose bombs.
Sensor / radar equipment
The aircraft is equipped with Boeing integrated mission system for conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and light attack missions. It will feature a belly-mounted, multi-mission sensor pod.
"The aircraft is equipped with Boeing integrated mission system for conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and light attack missions."
The adaptable pod systems aboard the aircraft allows the integration of forward looking infrared (FLIR) cameras, synthetic aperture radars (SARs), active and passive electronic warfare (EW) systems, and ELINT / COMINT payloads.
Engine and landing gear
The single-pusher-engine configuration of Mwari integrates a Pratt & Whitney PT6A-66B engine driving a single propeller. The flat-rated engine has a power of 710kW (950hp).
Mwari is equipped with retractable tri-cycle landing gear designed for semi-prepared and unprepared runways. The landing gear can be optionally integrated with extra-large high flotation wheels.
Mwari aircraft performance
The short take-off and landing (STOL) capability of the aircraft allows operations in small airfields with short runways or surfaces.
With full load, the aircraft requires a take-off distance of 550m. It will survive 8g and -4g loads during operations.
Mwari can operate at a maximum altitude of 31,000ft and will have a maximum cruise speed of 272kt. The maximum mission rage and ferry range of the aircraft will be 1,150nmi and 2,000nmi, respectively.
The forces of the Collective of Movements for Change, People's Defense Forces "CMC/FDP" in acronym were gathered today Monday September 9, 2024 and the majority of political executives for a moral talk by its Chief of General Staff, General Dominique who reminds them to remain vigilant and ready for the total liberation of the territories under occupation of the RDF M23. He also reminded them of order, discipline as well as respect for the rules of international humanitarian law and the rights of armed conflicts such as teaching within a time limit that they were retrained.
These ongoing rebel attacks follow, according to our source in the area, heavy losses inflicted on the rebels this Sunday by the young resistant patriots of the UPCRN movement of the self-proclaimed General Gentil Tuungane in kalonge and lushangi.
Since Tuesday last week, the M23_RDF have been sending messages asking the populations of mushababwe, Ruza, bundase, rushashi of the tongo grouping in Rutshuru territory to evacuate these villages to make way for the operations they want to launch against the wazalendo who are in the area and its surroundings. The evacuated populations are concentrated in bambo in schools and host families.
The security situation in other areas remains calm this Monday morning.
I was shocked that he even allegingly sodomized one of my relatives,a thing I came to learn of yesterday and to me personally i would wish M23 to punish him severely!And to me ,it is true that he is arrested and is in an area you control do not let go unpunished!
I cannot establish some of the facts of my investigative study here.. but any one who feels can add on this story can push more info to my email...IThis idiot should be punished!!!!
.....why has he sodomized many Ugandans for several times and all this time and yet non has talked about it???? Some of you are going to answer this and probably you will understand this that we write and why...,
...For God and My country
...........
US Army officers visited the operation against Alshabaab Central Wiliyah today. US officials have been monitoring the ongoing offensive every 6 months for the past 26 months to ensure accountability of their mercenaries on this frontline.
After three days of intense work, budgets were drawn up for the reaffirmation of the common border. Experts from the DRC and Uganda agreed on the effective start of demarcation of the common border in May 2025.
The segments concerned are: Bwindi/Sarambwe - Mount Sabinyo; Kampala/Kinshasa Market (Kambala) - Lake Albert; Vurra/Offo - DRC-Uganda-South Sudan Trijunction and Lubiriya Lamia River - Marguerite Peak.
“This report will provide measures or regulations and even the roadmap for the implementation of this reaffirmation of borders. Uganda, we are committed to the implementation of these efforts and we are sure to go all the way. I would also like to express my appreciation and gratitude to the Presidents Heads of State of the DRC and Uganda, their Excellencies Felix Tshisekedi and Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for their commitment to ensuring the return of peace and security in the region. We are sure and certain that with good leadership at their level, there is nothing that cannot be resolved. Uganda and the DRC have a historic relationship and this will remain perpetually. We are brothers and sisters and we are committed to living together and if there is any problem, we will commit to finding a solution to it,” said Colonel Naboth Mwesigwa, head of the Ugandan delegation of experts.
The delegation of Congolese experts was led by Vangu Mabiala Alphonse, Technical Director at the Permanent Border Commission at the Ministry of the Interior, assisted by Director Matthieu Mulala, responsible for border issues.
The Vice-Governor of North Kivu, Divisional Commissioner Jean Romuald Ekuka Lipopo, who officially closed this work, praised the firm determination of Presidents Félix Tshisekedi of the DRC and Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda to overcome the current difficulties through a diplomatic approach.
"From the positive conclusions we have reached, the main thing in my eyes seems to be the solemn and reiterated confirmation of the firm will of our two brother countries to continue the work of demarcating our common border. And I remain convinced that our two countries will quickly implement the recommendations from this meeting. This reflects the enlightened vision and determination demonstrated by our two heads of state. Whatever the economic difficulties we are facing, it is always possible to overcome them through diplomatic approaches. This is an opportunity to thank and congratulate the experts of our two countries for having devoted their knowledge, energy and technical expertise to produce quality work in record time," said Divisional Commissioner Jean Romuald Ekuka Lipopo, Vice Governor of North Kivu.
It should be noted that the budgets for the demarcation of the borders between the DRC and Uganda, at the level of Lake Albert and Lake Edward, have already been drawn up and are only awaiting funding from the governments of the two respective countries.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Mak Hazukay, army spokesman in the area, two attackers were killed on Wednesday, September 4, and two others on Friday, September 6. Nine hostages were freed from the hands of the rebels, including "two Ugandans," said Lieutenant Colonel Mak Hazukay, spokesman for Sokola 1 operations.
Military effects and several items belonging to the attackers were recovered.
This is the first time that large-scale operations have been carried out by the coalition of Congolese and Ugandan armies in the Biakato and Samboko area. Villages where hundreds of civilian deaths have been reported by civil society over the past two years.
To successfully carry out these operations, the Congolese army is asking the population "to avoid going deep into the forest where the fighting is taking place" and to continue to accompany the two armies in order to prevent "the enemy from protecting the west of national roads number four and 44", adds Lieutenant Colonel Mak Hazukay.
YOUTH DISGUISING AS ADF
The FARDC dismantled a group of young people who used to disguise themselves as ADF rebels in the Mayuwano area, an entity located in the Mambasa territory on national road No. 44, Beni-Mambasa axis.
According to Colonel Truno, commander on this axis, it was during the military operations carried out on the night of Thursday 5 to Friday 6 September 2024.
"They disguise themselves as "fake ADF", they arrive in a village and fire bullets so that civilians leave and stay harvesting cocoa and looting shops," he said.
These arrested civilians are almost all young people from the community, including three women, all handed over to the specialist services for the opening of legal files.
The army claims to have recovered weapons and military effects during this tracking operation.
As a reminder, the "fake ADF" phenomenon had become, these days, recurrent in Mambasa and Beni in North Kivu where the active forces had several times alerted the specialized services, calling on them to get involved in dislodging the perpetrators who plunder cocoa in the region. In their media outings, they had even asked the specialized services to regulate the cocoa purchasing sector to try to overcome the problem of fake ADF.
The Congolese government, represented by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Interior and Security, Jacquemain Shabani, reserved the right to sign this document due to the lack of condemnation from the East African Community (EAC) regarding the aggression against the DRC in its eastern part by its neighbor, Rwanda. Nevertheless, the head of Congolese security expressed the DRC's wish to maintain cooperation with the land of the rising sun with a view to improving the well-being of the population and its security.
"Let me, as Minister of the Interior of the DRC, underline our reservation regarding its commitment to this memorandum of understanding that was signed today. Being a member of the East African community, mastering and realizing the values and principles of our community, which were recalled during our discussions today, among others the protection of the territories of our different countries, principles violated against our country, the Democratic Republic of Congo and until now never condemned by the East African community. The DRC marks its reservation and will favor its bilateral relationship between it and the People's Republic of China," declared Jacquemain Shabani from the top of the podium of the conference room of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.
During his speech, Jacquemain Shabani stressed the importance of this first ministerial dialogue which, for him, is part of the construction of a new platform for cooperation in law enforcement with a view to a security sharing community between China and East Africa, of which the DRC is a member.
This refusal of the DRC to sign this memorandum is also explained by its desire to safeguard its guiding principles, among others the respect of territorial integrity and the inviolability of its borders. Jacquemain Shabani specified that his country will rather favor bilateral china-Congolese cooperation.
: Abdihakim, a police officer, was among those killed in the Alshabaab explosion at General Kaahiye Police Academy in Mogadishu. Alshabaab...
