SANDF anti-piracy ops extended

Members of the South African Air Force (SAAF) and army take part in a Capability Demonstration at the Roodewal Bombing Range in Makhado, in the northern province of Limpopo, May 9, 2013. South Africa’s air force showed off its military might on Thursday with precision bombing and helicopter gunships firing fusillades of rockets just days ahead of an unprecedented "peace enforcing" deployment to eastern Congo. Two months after 13 troops were killed by rebels in Central African Republic in South Africa’s heaviest military losses since the end of apartheid, Pretoria is gearing up to send 1,000 soldiers to Democratic Republic of Congo's volatile border with Rwanda and Uganda. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko (SOUTH AFRICA - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS)

Members of the South African Air Force (SAAF) and army take part in a Capability Demonstration at the Roodewal Bombing Range in Makhado, in the northern province of Limpopo, May 9, 2013. South Africa’s air force showed off its military might on Thursday with precision bombing and helicopter gunships firing fusillades of rockets just days ahead of an unprecedented "peace enforcing" deployment to eastern Congo. Two months after 13 troops were killed by rebels in Central African Republic in South Africa’s heaviest military losses since the end of apartheid, Pretoria is gearing up to send 1,000 soldiers to Democratic Republic of Congo's volatile border with Rwanda and Uganda. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko (SOUTH AFRICA - Tags: MILITARY POLITICS)

Published Mar 25, 2014

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Cape Town - The deployment of SA National Defence Force members taking part in anti-piracy operations off East Africa has been extended for a year, the presidency announced on Tuesday.

“President Jacob Zuma has informed Parliament that he has extended the employment of members of the SANDF for service in fulfilment of international obligations... towards the Southern African Development Community (SADC),” it said in a statement.

A total of 220 SANDF members were active in Mozambican and Tanzanian waters, as well as international waters, and were “still monitoring and deterring piracy” along the Indian Ocean coast.

“They were employed for the period April 1, 2013, to March 31, 2014, and the employment has now been extended to March 31, 2015.”

Sapa

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