By Claudette Roulo
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2014 – U.S. airlift operations are
continuing in the Central African Republic, Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve
Warren said today.
Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft initially began
operations Dec. 12 in response to a French request for limited support in the
region. During those initial operations, small teams of U.S. airmen transported
a Burundi light infantry battalion.
The troops are part of an African Union-led international
support mission intended to help prevent the further spread of sectarian
violence.
The United Nations estimates that thousands of people in the
Central African Republic have been killed and 2.2 million are in need of
humanitarian aid due to rebel violence.
Airlift operations to transport a Rwandan mechanized
infantry unit began Jan. 14, Warren said. That operation, he said, is expected
to take about three weeks to complete.
It will take longer to move the Rwandan soldiers and their
equipment than it did to move the Burundi troops, he said, “because this is a
mechanized battalion that we're moving this time, so there are just more pieces
of equipment that have to be moved and they take up more space.”
Since Jan. 14, the U.S. Air Force has transported a total of
131 Rwandan soldiers, 22 pallets of supplies and equipment, 13 vehicles and 1
forklift, Warren said.
Two small teams of U.S. Air Force personnel are on the
ground in Kigali, Rwanda, and Bangui, Central African Republic, to help load
and unload the aircraft. Security is being provided by French and African Union
soldiers, a defense official said. About 100 additional Air Force personnel are
in Entebbe, Uganda, to support flight operations.
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