Namibian, SA, Angolan military work together

THERE is an excellent degree of comradeship and co-operation between the 735 army officers of Namibia, South Africa and Angola defence forces, participating in the Walvis Bay phase of the SADC Golfinho military exercise.

‘The fact that all these men and women can work together is a critically important element in our objective in establishing a SADC Standby Force,’ the Chief of Operations, Commander Basie Broekman, told The Namibian at the Namibian Naval Headquarters in Walvis Bay last week.Exercise Golfinho is a multinational exercise involving 11 SADC countries, during which Walvis Bay hosts Namibia, SA and Angola, while the rest are operating in SA. The exercise is executed in four sectors. Sectors one to three (all land forces) are based at the SA Army Combat Training Centre, Lohatlha in the Northern Cape, while sector four (sea forces which include amphibious forces on land and ships in Namibian territorial waters) is based in Walvis Bay.The aim of Golfinho is to exercise the readiness of the SADC forces in accordance with the African Union (AU) roadmap towards establishing the African Standby Force. It is also aimed at testing the SADC Brigade’s capability to handle conflict situations in line with the evolving international peacekeeping framework. The exercise, which started on September 1, is already nearing its closure, which is on September 25.Scenarios, which included ‘red forces’ or enemy forces, were simulated, and the Walvis Bay contingent’s role in the whole affair was to contain Walvis Bay to curb the ‘import and export of weapons and blood diamonds’.Marine patrol vessels, gun ships, submarines, helicopters and patrol aircraft are used in and around the harbour town where over 700 army and naval men of the three countries are working together.’We come from different countries, with different cultures and backgrounds. Now we are all pooled together for a single cause, where it may have been different in the past. It could have been that there would have been struggles to communicate and co-operate, but this is not the case. The guys here are working together good as a team, and this in itself is already a success of the exercise,’ Broekman said.Commander Broekman is an ‘old soldier’ who was involved in the South West war prior to Namibian Independence. His is now on the SA reserve force, and was requested to participate in Golfinho to give input because of his experience and expertise.