South African military commanders want the UN to review its combat mission safety protocols after a sniper killed the flight engineer on an air force Oryx transport helicopter and wounded the chopper commander while they were doing duty in the volatile eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

 

The gunman, thought be a member of the M23 rebel group, fired at the crew through the windscreen of the chopper, hitting flight engineer Sgt Vusi Mabena and the pilot, Maj Omolemo Matlapeng, with the same bullet. Co-pilot Capt Mathew Allan took over the controls and landed safely at the UN base in Goma. Mabena died and Matlapeng was hospitalised with a shoulder wound.

 

A senior South African Air Force (SAAF) officer at headquarters in Pretoria, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the crew was highly trained with combat experience. “I have flown with all of them. They are incredibly competent.”

 

The source, who has deployed before in the DRC, said no amount of armoured protection would have stopped the sniper’s bullet. “It was an incredibly unlucky shot from the crew’s perspective. You cannot armourplate the windscreen. Doing so would impact the aircraft’s weight and operations.

 

“The crewwere doing a low-level op, flying along the ridge. I have flown that route. It’s a regular supply mission route. The sniper happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time for the crew. The sniper would have known the helicopter was coming because the flight is regular. 

 

“This attack calls into question the operating procedures used by the UN. The SAAF has its own procedures which are in force there and which this flight adhered to, but it ’s a UN mission and they dictate frequency of flights and whether there are protective escorts for the transport helicopters.”

 

The source said a board of inquiry needed to look into why the flights were always on

the same routes “and at almost the same times ”.

 

“Importantly, why are attack helicopters not used as escorts?”

 

The source said the SAAF trained for eventualities such as this. “The problem is your training can only take you so far. A Rooivalk may very well have averted the attack or at least allowed the attacker to be eliminated . ”

The attack occurred 10km from the base where the Oryx was stationed in an area controlled by the M23. The helicopter was flying unescorted along a ridge where the sniper was positioned. Last year a Pakistani Puma transport helicopter was shot down in similar circumstances in the same region. Eight peacekeepers were killed.

Defence analysts say given the increase in attacks on UN peacekeepers and their lightly armoured transport helicopters, the UN should be ensuring there are attack helicopters as escorts.

 

Three SAAF Rooivalk attack helicopters are based in Goma.

A confidential UN report on the shooting states: “It was reported by Capt Allan of Oryx (UN 821) that on an

air support mission from Beni to Goma the aircraft was shot on the front righthand side. The commander (Maj Matlapeng) was shot on his left of the shoulder and flight engineer (Sgt Mabena) was shot on the left side of the chest. Unfortunately Sgt Mabena has passed on. Maj Matlapeng is still hospitalised.”

 

Defence analyst Dean Wingrin said the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) would be within its rights to demand answers from the UN as to why there was no armed escort. He said the operating procedures followed in route planning, variation of flight times and escorts must be reviewed. “Every mission is tasked by the UN. Given how the Pakistani helicopter was shot down, this attack makes it all the more surprising that this aircraft was flying a routine route and schedule unescorted.

 

“The SAAF’s operating procedures are that you never fly the same route twice and you never ever fly it at the same time [of day]. SAAF members are respected for their capabilities. This comes down to complacency in route and mission planning.”

 

The SANDF has 1,184 peacekeepers deployed as part of the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC. 

 

Neither the UN nor the SANDF responded to questions from the Sunday Times.

 

Republished from the Sunday Times