NEWSFLASH - Mbote declares border zone secured by MDF (Reuters)

 

From our defence correspondent in Takuma

 

In a surprise visit to the reclaimed border zone along the Wajumba river, Colonel Banga B'oum, Life President of the Democratic Republic of Mbote, announced that MDF troops are now in complete occupation of territory on the Mbote side of the disputed border line.

 

Colonel Banga B'oum congratulated the troops of the Mbote Defence Force and local militia units of the Peoples Volunteer Army on the success of Operation Simba, in which advance elements of the Army of Bana Soto were forced to retreat from their bridgehead at the Takuma river crossing.

 

In a relaxed interview at a frontline HQ, Colonel Banga B'oum played down suggestions that the MDF suffered disproportionate casualties and losses in material during recent fighting:

 

'This is a lie. The brave warriors of the MDF have inflicted a punishing reversal to the Bana Soto interlopers, with much loss of face for the ineffectual and cowardly mercenary bandits of the ABS. Long Live Mbote!

 

In a subsequent formal ceremony, Colonel Banga B'oum praised the local MDF commander, Major Mojo, with a battlefield promotion to Brigadier and the award of the Order of the Lion of Mbote, with clusters and extra dangly bits.