Tuesday, May 21, 2013
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EU mission seeks to rebuild Mali army after US faltered Under a blazing sun and the critical gaze of British and Irish instructors, a line of 11 Malian soldiers lie prone in the dust firing AK-47 rounds at targets, one-by-one.
Collusion, manipulation in Guptagate scandal South Africa's justice minister on Sunday accused an Indian High Commission official and some South Africans of colluding to obtain permission for the Gupta family’s wedding guests to land at Air Force Base Waterkloof last month.
Name changes on the way for Reserve Force units A number of regiments and units in the SA National Defence Force’s (SANDF) Reserve Force are in line for name changes.
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Name changes on the way for Reserve Force units

A number of regiments and units in the SA National Defence Force’s (SANDF) Reserve Force are in line for name changes.

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Ex Young Eagle will be part of Ex Shared Accord this year

In what can only be seen as another challenge brought about by a tight budget, this year will see the SA Army’s major airborne assault exercise form part of a joint United States humanitarian exercise in the Eastern Cape.

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SANDF contingent training hard for DRC deployment

The South African battalion earmarked for deployment as part of the UN DRC intervention brigade is currently undergoing intensive training ahead of joining up with elements from Malawi and Tanzania in the central African country.

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Military technology can boost the fight against rhino poaching

Technology originally developed for military and security use, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, could be used as another weapon in the fight against rhino poaching, according to Saab.

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Airbus Military, EADS North America deliver HC 144A Maintenance Training Unit to US Coast Guard

The US Coast Guard Aviation Logistics Center has purchased the prototype CN235 aircraft and plans to transform it into an HC-144A maintenance training unit. The HC-144A is based on the Airbus Military CN235 tactical airlifter. More than 230 CN235s are in service...

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Airbus Military, EADS North America deliver HC 144A Maintenance Training Unit to US Coast Guard

The US Coast Guard Aviation Logistics Center has purchased the prototype CN235 aircraft and plans to transform it into an HC-144A maintenance training unit. The HC-144A is based on the Airbus Military CN235 tactical airlifter. More than 230 CN235s are in service...

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Somali government says guns won't decide disputed port's fate

Somalia's new government said it was pursuing talks to resolve rival claims for control in the south that have stoked fears of a return to the clan wars that pitched the nation into anarchy two decades ago.

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European Union Naval Force commander warns of continued pirate menace

Following the interception of suspected pirates off Somalia, the commander of the European Union Naval Force has warned that Somali pirates are still determined to get out to sea and, if presented with an easy target, will attack.

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Pirates release five Polish, Russian crew taken from ship off Nigeria

Pirates have released five Polish and Russian crew members they kidnapped from a cargo ship off the coast of Nigeria last month, the vessel's management company said.

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Milestones for the C-130 – locally and internationally

Come month-end, the SA Air Force’s (SAAF’s) 28 Squadron will mark two major milestones – its 70th anniversary and the 50th anniversary of the venerable C-130BZ in service.

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Pakistan assisting Nigerian Air Force

The Pakistan Air Force is assisting the Nigerian Air Force with maintenance and training for its F-7 fighter jets and in building the Nigerian Air Force’s capacity.

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New gallery: Airbus Military A400M

The Airbus Military A400M Grizzly is Europe's most important airlifter project and after years of delays is scheduled to enter service in mid-2013 with the French and Turkish Air Forces. Click here to access the gallery.

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Op Corona sees success but no more troops for the borders

The last 15 months of border protection operations by the SA Army has seen over 12 400 illegal immigrants apprehended by soldiers, mainly along South Africa’s borders with Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

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Defence Review still awaits Parliamentary airing

The hard work and onerous hours put in by Roelf Meyer’s Defence Review Committee in meeting the tight deadline set by previous Defence and Military Veterans Minister Lindiwe Sisulu appear to have become entangled in Parliament’s bureaucracy.

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Charges against some SANDF marchers dropped

Charges against 72 of the soldiers who illegally marched to the Union Buildings in 2009 have been dropped due to insufficient evidence, while 225 underwent a pre-trial process that could lead to their conviction.

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Sea

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$2.6 million paid for release of hijacked ship

A ransom of $2.6 million was paid to Somali pirates in November 2011 to secure the release of the hijacked cargo ship MV Blida.

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Police raid Smit Amandla offices over DAFF vessels contract

The South African Police Service yesterday raided the offices of Smit Amandla Marine over alleged irregularities in the awarding of a tender to manage the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) patrol vessels.

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Upgraded strike craft nearly finished with sea trials

The three upgraded Warrior-class strike craft that were converted into offshore patrol vessels have almost completed sea trials prior to acceptance by the South African Navy, with trials due for completion by the end of the month.

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U.S. says concerned with charges against Egyptian journalists

The United States expressed concern over defamation charges brought against two Egyptian journalists critical of President Mohamed Mursi and called on the government to condemn actions that stifle freedom of expression.

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Obama to travel to Africa in late June

President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, will travel to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania in late June and early July to reinforce U.S. ties with countries in sub-Saharan Africa, said the White House.

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Collusion, manipulation in Guptagate scandal

South Africa's justice minister on Sunday accused an Indian High Commission official and some South Africans of colluding to obtain permission for the Gupta family’s wedding guests to land at Air Force Base Waterkloof last month.

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Egyptian army boosts forces in Sinai after kidnapping

The Egyptian army sent reinforcements into the Sinai Peninsula after President Mohamed Mursi said there would be no talks with militant Islamists who abducted seven members of the security forces last week.

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After crushing Mali Islamists, France pushes deal with Tuaregs

After winning adulation across Mali for a five month military offensive that crushed al Qaeda fighters, France is now frustrating some of its allies by pushing for a political settlement with a separate group of Tuareg rebels.

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Armed Tuareg and Arab groups clash in northern Mali

Fighting has broken out in northern Mali between Tuareg separatists and local Arab-led gunmen, only days after the African country won a $4.2 billion aid pledge to help it recover from a conflict with Islamists affiliated to al Qaeda.

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Armed Tuareg and Arab groups clash in northern Mali

Fighting has broken out in northern Mali between Tuareg separatists and local Arab-led gunmen, only days after the African country won a $4.2 billion aid pledge to help it recover from a conflict with Islamists affiliated to al Qaeda.

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Gunmen attack police station beyond Nigeria emergency zone

Gunmen stormed a police station and a bank in a town in Nigeria's northwest, beyond a region covered by a military crackdown on a Islamist insurgency, a sign the offensive could provoke violence by smaller militant cells across the north.

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Kenya's deputy president promises to cooperate with Hague

Kenya's deputy president, William Ruto, promised the International Criminal Court he and the president would cooperate despite calling their charges over election violence the result of a "conspiracy of lies".

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Amplats says South Africa miners report for morning shift

Miners at South Africa's Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) reported for work on Friday, a company spokeswoman said, despite earlier calls for a strike by some union leaders.

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Man killed in attack on police station in Libya's Benghazi

A man was killed in an overnight attack on police in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi and their station was later set on fire in a possible act of revenge for the killing, police sources said.

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Kenyan police fire teargas at protest over MPs' pay

Kenyan police fired teargas and water cannon outside parliament to disperse about 200 people demonstrating against lawmakers' demands for a salary 130 times the legal minimum wage.

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Libya war weapons may be killing central Africa elephants : UN

Armed groups in central Africa are using powerful weapons, some of which may be left over from the civil war in Libya, to kill elephants for their ivory, the United Nations said.

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Tanzania to deploy army, UAVs in poaching crackdown

The Tanzanian government says it is mobilising some army units for a new anti-poaching campaign which will also include unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to patrol Serengeti and other game reserves which hit by poaching.

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Nigeria to receive high-tech border control equipment

Nigeria is set to receive equipment from the United States to help secure porous borders under a joint initiative to counter-terrorism, insurgency and piracy in the West African country.

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EU mission seeks to rebuild Mali army after US faltered

Under a blazing sun and the critical gaze of British and Irish instructors, a line of 11 Malian soldiers lie prone in the dust firing AK-47 rounds at targets, one-by-one.

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Hostilities break out again in DRC ahead of UN intervention brigade deployment

A renewal of hostilities between the M23 rebel group and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) armed forces earlier this week outside Goma serves as a reminder that the UN intervention brigade will have to apply the “offensive tactics” part of its rules of engagement...

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Nigeria bombs Islamists, U.S. sounds alarm

Nigerian warplanes struck militant camps in the northeast on Friday in a major push against an Islamist insurgency, drawing a sharp warning from the United States to respect human rights and not harm civilians.

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Zimbabwe military cadets die in training

Only 47% of those recruited into the Zimbabwe Military Academy (ZMA) officers’ course made it to the graduating class of 2012 and it has been made public that four aspiring cadets died during the gruelling military course.

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New African Military Profile: Ethiopia

defenceWeb is proud to announce the latest addition to our portal on African Militaries: a profile of the Ethiopian National Defence Force. Click here to access the analysis.

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New African Military Profile: Eritrea

defenceWeb is proud to announce the latest addition to our portal on African Militaries: a profile of Eritrea's military. Click here to access the analysis.

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Jail the Liberator!

3D printing is once again hitting the headlines with the latest creation of a company called Defense Distributed: an almost fully printable plastic gun, humbly named the Liberator.

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Bright future for Megaray

Megaray, the Johannesburg company which designs and markets long range searchlights systems, is changing the way lighting systems are used in the international private and government defence and security sectors and is selling hundreds of units to global customers....

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An-70 passes Ukrainian tests

Antonov’s An-70 airlifter has passed Ukrainian Ministry of Defence structural tests, the company has announced, as the programme slowly moves forward to production next year.

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Pentagon to take over some CIA drone operations : sources

President Barack Obama's administration has decided to give the Pentagon control of some drone operations against terrorism suspects overseas that are currently run by the CIA, several U.S. government sources said.

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U.N. General Assembly to vote on Syria resolution; Russia opposed

The U.N. General Assembly is set to vote on a draft resolution that condemns Syrian authorities and accepts the opposition Syrian National Coalition as party to a potential political transition.

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Qatar, allies tighten coordination of arms flows to Syria

Qatar, which has taken a lead in arming the Syrian opposition, is coordinating with the CIA and has tightened control of the arms flow to keep weapons out of the hands of al Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters, according to rebels and officials familiar with the operation....

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Boeing loses five 747 orders, gains 777 order

Boeing Co said that it lost five orders for its 747 jumbo jet worth about $1.8 billion at list prices and gained one order for its 777 wide-body plane in the latest week.

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Qatar Airways in talks with Airbus to buy up to 15 jets

Qatar Airways is in talks with Airbus to buy up to 15 of the European planemaker's A330 passenger jets, a deal potentially worth $3.6 billion at list prices, citing production delays to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

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Profitability ‘on the horizon’ – SAA

The acting CEO of South African Airways, Nico Bezuidenhout, sees profitability as being “on the horizon” for the troubled national carrier, with business as usual until the airline’s turnaround strategy is approved.

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Kerry visits Oman for arms deal signing, talks on Syria, Mideast

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flies to Oman for Raytheon Co's signing of an estimated $2.1 billion arms deal and to consult on Syria and Iran, U.S. officials said.

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Kerry says Israel, Palestinians serious about peace

The Israelis and Palestinians are serious about pursuing peace, United States Secretary of State John Kerry said.

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April bloodiest month in Iraq since 2008: U.N.

April was Iraq's bloodiest month for almost five years, with 712 people killed in bomb attacks and other violence, the United Nations Iraq mission said.

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Feature: SANDF – Optimum Force Design

The ‘Battle of Bangui’ in the Central African Republic in March and its aftermath should cause government to think about what sort of Defence Force South Africa needs. While the troops fought magnificently, the Defence Force had no means of either promptly...

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Do the US and South Africa have a role in resolving DRC conflict?

On March 18 Bosco Ntaganda, International Criminal Court (ICC) inductee and leader of one of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s M23 rebel factions, walked into United States Embassy in Kigali. Ntaganda, also known as “The Terminator,” specifically asked to...

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SAAF personnel welcome new book

Long-time military aviation enthusiast Dean Wingrin’s first foray into book publishing has been welcomed by retired and serving members of the South African Air Force (SAAF).

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South African student part of Airbus’ Fly Your Ideas finalist team

A South African student is part of an Australian team selected by Airbus to compete in the third edition of the Fly Your Ideas challenge, Airbus has announced.

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SKA headquarters inaugurated

Less than a year after the decision to site the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope in South Africa and Australia, the SKA Organisation has officially opened its new international headquarters in the UK.

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X-51A Waverider achieves breakthrough in final hypersonic flight

The X-51A Waverider hypersonic test aircraft reached Mach 5.1 during its fourth and final flight earlier this month, traveling 230 nautical miles in just over six minutes over the Pacific Ocean.

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Statement:  Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Jeff Radebe

Media statement on the plane which landed at Waterkloof Air Force Base: Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Jeff Radebe

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MINISTRY OF DEFENCE AND MILITARY VERTERANS

STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER OF DEFENCE AND MILITARY VETERANS MS NN MAPISA-NQAKULA ON THE AIR FORCE BASE WATERKLOOF (AFB) MATTER

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Speech: Mapisa-Nqakula briefing Parliament on the CAR, 23rd April

Hon Speaker and Honourable Members, We welcome the opportunity given to us to present this statement and thank the Presiding Officers for their positive consideration of our request in this regard.

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US Army seeking private contractors for African commando transportation

The United States Army's Transportation Command (US-TRANSCOM) is looking for private flight contractors to transport commandos from the Joint Special Taskforce Trans-Sahara as they conduct 'high risk activities' in 31 African countries.

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Tenders:  Description Reference no. Requirements Issue date ...

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AAD2014 Invitation For Tender - Africa Aerospace And Defence (17 - 21 September 2014)

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Company News



Columns

Military trade unions – is there room for them in the SANDF?

It’s an open secret neither the Defence Ministry nor the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is in favour of trade unions in the military.

What also cannot be denied is that the existenc [ ... ]


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Book Reviews

  • Book Review: Bush War Nearly all accounts of the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, in English, to date, are one-sided South African accounts. Shubin and Tokarev’s Bush War – The road to Cuito Cuanavale – Soviet soldiers’ accounts...
  • Book review: Operation Dingo Co-issued with a British publisher, “Operation Dingo” is the first of the “Africa@War” series of which four titles have now been released: three relate to operations – “Operation Dingo”,...
  • Book review: France in Centrafrique “France in Centrafrique” is the second in a new series on African conflict, “Africa@War”, and concentrates on French misadventures in the Central African Republic (CAR).
  • Book review: Selous Scouts “Selous Scouts” is the fourth in a new series on African conflict, “Africa@War” and unlike the other three volumes in the series that look at specific operations, focusses on a uni, the Rhodesian...
  • Book review: Hitler's First War From his earliest day in politics and literally to his last, Adolf Hitler never tired of talking about his experiences as a frontsoldat (frontline soldier) on the Western Front during World War One. According...
  • Book review: SuperFreakonomics In SuperFreakonomics authors Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner again take an unconventional view of the everyday. Indeed, the book is subtitled “global cooling, patriotic prostitutes and why suicide...
  • Book review: D-Day, the Battle for Normandy Anthony Beevor published his D-Day, the Battle for Normandy, in 2009, adding another popular work to an ever-growing literature on the subject.
  • Book review: The Shadow World In The Shadow World Andrew Feinstein, assisted by Paul Holden and Barnaby Pace, tries to portray the global defence industry as uniquely corrupt, venal and greedy.
  • Book review: Victory among people To mangle Clausewitz somewhat, the theory of war is simple, but the practice can be very hard. This also applies to counterinsurgency, the dominant form of armed conflict since the end of the old War....
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Fact Files

  • Fact file: SANDF regular force levels by race & gender: April 30, 2011 The uniformed services of the South African National Defence Force mustered 64 431 personnel in April this year, of whom 77.3% (49 831) were male, 72.3% (46 590) were black, 11.6% were Coloured, 744 (1.2%)...
  • Fact file: SA defence exports, 2010 The National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) in 2010 approved the following export permits:  
  • Fact file: G6 L45 self-propelled towed gun-howitzer The 2010 edition of the International Institute for Strategic Studies' Military Balance publication lists the South African Artillery as currently employing two G6 L45 and having an additional 41 in store....
  • Fact file: Denel FV2 Bateleur Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) The FV2 Bateleur is the standard multiple launch rocket system (MLRS)of the South African Artillery. Development and production started after the end of the 1966-1989 Namibian “Border War” and the...
  • Fact file: G5 L45 towed gun-howitzer The 2010 edition of the International Institute for Strategic Studies' Military Balance publication lists the South African Artillery as currently employing six (one battery) G5 L45 and having an additional...
  • Fact file: Military rank The origin of military rank makes for interesting reading, both in terms of the hierarchy (if a major is senior to a lieutenant, why is a major general junior to a lieutenant general?) and in terms of...
  • Fact file: Denel ZT3 Ingwe precision guided missile The Ingwe (Leopard) missile and associated launch systems were developed in the 1980s under Project Raleigh as a “long-range indigenous antitank guided missile.” Pre-production models were used in...
  • Fact file: MBDA Milan precision guided misile The MBDA (formerly Euromissile) Milan (Missile d´infanterie léger antichar = light infantry antitank missile) started life in 1962 and the second-generation of antitank missiles to enter South African...
  • Fact file: M40A1 recoilless rifle The M40 was developed in the 1950s as a lightweight, portable, crew-served 105mm antitank weapon. It has served the South African infantry for many years as a direct-fire weapon and is issued in units...
  • Fact file: Bazalt RPG-7 rocket propelled grenade and launcher The Rocket Propelled Grenade (model) 7 (RPG-7) is a widely-produced, portable, shoulder-launched, anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade weapon first deployed from June 1961, when it replaced the RPG-4 and...
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