S’African Troops To Deploy Against Rebels In East DRcongo

Southern African countries have agreed to deploy forces to help quell violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where armed groups have terrorised civilians for decades.

According to SADC  in a statement from the Namibian capital Windhoek, it was a special summit of the 16-bloc Southern African Development Community, which includes South Africa, Angola and Tanzania, backed the deployment “to restore peace and security in eastern DRC”,

The meeting did not give the numbers of troops to be deployed nor a timeline for the deployment.

The decision was reached at talks attended by several heads of states, including DRC’s Felix Tshisekedi, his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa, Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu Hassan and ministers from the regional group.

Armed groups have plagued much of mineral-rich eastern DRC for three decades, a legacy of regional wars that flared in the 1990s and 2000s.The rebel campaign has displaced over one million people, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Some troops from three SADC countries — South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi — have already been operating in eastern DRC since 2013 under the umbrella of the major a UN peacekeeping force MONUSCO.

President Ramaphosa said in a statement South Africa stands ready to contribute to the development of effective regional instruments that could assist to stabilise the current security situation prevailing in the eastern DRC.

The deployment will also add to an East African regional military force that has taken over some areas previously occupied by the M23 since December but has so far failed to thwart the insurgency.

The East African Community (EAC) force draws on troops from Burundi, Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan.