Quote Originally Posted by KingJaja View Post
Can anyone comment on this bizarre story? Australia isn't normally a country you'd think about with respect to Africa.
Not so bizarre actually.
Several posts back I told you that US SF teams were a whole lot closer than you believed. Several as far back as 1985.

Even here in the early 90s we had teams performing similar missions, some even here just to immerse in language training.

They are also aimed at developing rescue strategies for evacuating trapped Australian civilians while assessing African border controls and exploring landing sites for possible military interventions.
This is about 90% of the reasons they are around, not just Australia either. When Zaire imploded the first time, a massive evacuation took place with troops flying in from God knows where The entire four-day event went off without a hitch - perfectly executed and minimal local involvement. We managed to get over 15,000 people safely home with less than 30 soldiers.

The Herald added the operations have raised serious concerns among some sections of the military and intelligence communities that the troops do not have adequate legal protection or contingency plans if they are captured.

“They have all the espionage skills but without (Australian Secret Intelligence Service’s) legal cover,” said one government source.
Rest assured someone knew/knows who they are and where they operate. As for having "adequate" legal protection inside the host country (such as declared spies purportedly possess) - that's a load of Sierra and history in Africa tells a different tale.

I'd be more worried about the spies than professional military trained to be in a jam and get out too !