The first members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to be deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were due to arrive in Kinshasa on Thursday, news reports said.
The eight-soldier medical team flew out from Waterkloof Air Force Base near Pretoria, SANDF spokesman John Rolt was quoted as saying. “This is historic. It’s the first time troops are going over for this sort of thing,” Rolt said.
The South African government announced last month that at least 88 South African soldiers were expected to be in the DRC by the end of April.
Besides an air medical evacuation team, the contingent would include eight air cargo handling teams and two air crash rescue and fire-fighting teams, with their own equipment.
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