Transport: Military faces DRC challenges

The heavy equipment used by South African military engineers working on roads in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could only be serviced in South Africa, the Department of Defence said yesterday. “They (DRC) don’t have the parts we need… you can’t find it in that area where we are working,” spokesman Siphiwe Dlamini said. “The equipment that is there needs to be serviced, but because of the situation there we have to service it here, and that is the challenge we are having. The DRC is at war with itself, it’s simple logic.” Dlamini said that South African military engineers had many problems in the DRC. “We are not working in New York, where we can buy that equipment there,” Dlamini said. The DRC “is a difficult terrain. With everything we do our troops have to be supported by South Africa. There is no support on the ground in the DRC. The equipment and trucks we need are only in South Africa,” he said. – Sapa