Operation Okapi
- michael pope
- May 29
- 1 min read
Operation Okapi is the name given to the ROD’s mission in the DRC to combat the Ebola outbreak. The concept of the operation is to establish an LSA on the coast where supplies and personnel can be staged, and then establish a FOB close to the affected area, but outside of contamination and conflict zones.
PHASE I is currently underway. 1st SHAM has ferried the security company, construction survey team, and HQ element by helicopter to the port of Banana on DRC’s west coast. With the consent and cooperation of the DRC government, a site for a logistics support area (LSA) adjacent to the Kitona Base Airport has been identified (roughly 2 miles from the port).
A DRC liaison team has been requested by the ROD and approved by the DRC. The liaison team will accompany SHAM leaders in a reconnaissance of possible sites to the east for a forward operating base (FOB).
Vehicles and equipment will be offloaded from 1st SHAM ships as soon as possible to construct the LSA (very basic facilities, including space to store supplies and operate fixed and rotary wing aircraft).
Units are departing the ROD Home Island this afternoon in military transport aircraft to deliver additional personnel and medical supplies to the LSA.
PHASE II will begin this weekend once a FOB has been identified and an advanced party is on the ground.
Meanwhile in Yer Bouti, the long Bureaucratic process has begun on how much aid to deliver to Yer bouti City by the NC Red Cross, once all the necessary paperwork, forms and data collecting is complete, aid will be delivered by the other two ships in the aid fleet stationed outside YBC's harbour.