A still from Chinese news coverage of Exercise ‘Peace Unity 2024' shows the Tanzanian and Chinese contingents formed up at the Comprehensive Training Centre, Mapinga, for the opening ceremony. (China Global Television Network)
Tanzania is currently hosting what appears to be the largest ever Chinese military deployment to Sub-Saharan Africa for Exercise ‘Peace Unity (Amani Umoja) 2024'.
“This year's exercise is more than previous exercises as it marks 60 years of the coming together of our two forces,” said General Jacob John Mkunda, the chief of the Tanzanian People's Defence Force (TPDF), in his speech during the exercise's opening ceremony on 29 July.
Chinese television coverage on 26 July showed Type 071 amphibious assault ships Wuzhi Shan (987) and Qilian Shan (985) docking at Dar es Salaam's commercial port with Type 052D destroyer Hefei (174). More troops were also shown arriving at Dar es Salaam's airport on a J-20 transport aircraft.
The Type 071s can together carry 1,600 troops and 60 armoured vehicles, according to Janes Fighting Ships , although a far smaller force was shown in the Chinese and Tanzanian coverage of the opening ceremony, which was held at the Comprehensive Training Centre (CTC) north of Dar es Salaam. More than 200 Chinese soldiers were formed up with a larger number of TPDF special forces soldiers.
The deployment included four 6×6 armoured personnel carriers and four Mengshi tactical vehicles, along with reconnaissance, command, and recovery variants of the Type 09 family of 8×8 armoured vehicles and a wheeled armoured engineering vehicle. The Chinese also displayed various infantry weapons and other items of equipment for their Tanzanian hosts.
China Daily
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