South Africa continues to suffer losses in DRC war

Author: Daniel Gatimu

• 2024-06-14 05:30:00

Members of the South African National Defence Forces carry a coffin during the funeral for two of its soldiers at the Waterkloof Air Force Base, on February 21, 2024. The two were killed in a mortar strike that landed near a SANDF base in Sake, DRC, on February 14, 2024.

On June 3, three South African soldiers deployed to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) under the Southern African Development Community mission in the country, SAMIDRC, were killed in clashes near Sake between the Congolese armed force coalition and M23 rebels.

It was only three days after the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) had confirmed the death of one of its soldiers and 22 severely wounded in the May 30 battles in Sake and its surroundings. 

Related: SAMIDRC suffers huge loss against M23

Since February, SANDF has suffered losses during the fighting in war-torn eastern DRC alongside the Congolese armed forces coalition which has troops from Burundian army (FDNB), SAMIDRC, MONUSCO, European Mercenaries, Wazalendo militia, and genocidal militia FDLR against the M23 rebel group.

The South-African led SAMIDRC is criticized for its ineffectiveness, with some calling the mission a “war fighting mission” instead of being a peace mission.

Its deployment goes against several principles set out in the 2008 “Revised White Paper on South African Participation in International Peace Missions,” which oversee the involvement in diplomatic conflict resolution initiatives.

The deployment of SANDF to DRC was controversial, with some people supposing that there are strategic and economic arguments for it.

The SANDF troops joined hands with the Congolese armed forces, FARDC, to indiscriminately shell civilian populated areas, thereby raising questions of whether the SADC mission is helping DRC to solve the crisis or making it more complicated.

Thousands of innocent civilians have been displaced and hundreds others killed by heavy artillery shelling by SADC forces since they started engaging M23 rebels.

The M23 rebel group is fighting against an existential threat. They are protecting Kinyarwanda speaking Congolese who have been persecuted by successive Congolese governments. Congolese authorities have denied them their right of citizenship.

As long as the M23 grievance is not addressed, the eastern DRC crisis will not be solved. The only way to address this grievance is through political dialogue since the root cause of the crisis is political.