{Washington: US military aircraft are due to fly Rwandan troops to the Central African Republic in the next few days as part of an African Union mission, a Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday. }
The operation, which could start within two days, will be “very similar” to one conducted in December when two US C-17 cargo planes transported 850 soldiers from Burundi to CAR, Lieutenant Colonel Rob Firman said.
“We have a request from the AU to move Rwandans. We’re in the process of coordinating those efforts now with the Rwandans and the French right now,” General David Rodriguez, head of the military’s Africa Command, told reporters last week.
The Pentagon did not say precisely how many Rwandan troops would be ferried to the Central African Republic.
Rwanda said last week it planned to send about 800 troops to join the African Union (AU) force, which is currently 4,000 strong and is due to reach 6,000 at full strength. The AU contingent, which includes troops from Burundi, Cameroon, Congo Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Chad and Equatorial Guinea, is working alongside some 1,600 French troops.
America’s large fleet of cargo aircraft as well as its surveillance drones are increasingly in demand from French and AU forces after unrest in Mali, CAR and South Sudan.
{{Agencies}}
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