Brasília, July 4, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - On Sunday (6), two C-130 airplanes, belonging to the Brazilian Air Force (FAB), will take off from the Galeáo Air Base, in Rio, to carry out one more Brazilian government mission in support of the UN, in Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Africa.

The unstable international situation in the region led the Brazilian government, through the Ministry of Defense, to send 41 Air Force officers to contribute to the stabilization of security and the improvement of the humanitarian situation in Bunia, in the Congo.

The airplanes were fitted with special armor, taking into account the high risk level involved in the operations and in order to ensure greater security for members of the mission. The planes will leave the Galeáo Air Base on route to Recife, from where they will fly to Ascention Island, and then on to Luanda (Angola) and Entebbe (Uganda), arriving on July 8.

This isn't the first time the FAB has aided the people of the Congo. Between 1960 and 1964, when there was a serious internal crisis in the Congo, a total of 179 members of the FAB, 69 officers and 110 junior officers, sergeants, and corporals, were sent to that African country as members of the UN Peace Force. (DAS)