South Africa to seek AU support for regional troop deployment in DRC

Author: Samson Kasujja

• 2024-02-15 05:23:00

The government of South Africa is lobbying the African Union (AU) for financial support to prop up operations of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) force deployed to the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) reportedly to tackle armed groups there, it emerges, a day after reports indicated that Pretoria had decided to send 2,900 troops to the volatile east of DRC.

The SADC mission that started on December 15, 2023, is set to run for a year, as per the initial arrangements. The advance group from Malawi and South Africa started operations in DRC on December 18, 2023, with a second South African group arriving two days later. In early January 2024, Tanzania also deployed in troops to the mission referred to as SAMIDRC.

Before details about the deployment were announced, a source from the SADC Secretariat revealed that the SADC troops would not be sent to DRC due to financial issues.

When southern African leaders met in May 2023, it was assessed that the force of some 5,000 troops, was budgeted to cost about $554 million for its first year of operation in DRC. The bloc’s member states disagreed on providing the funds as Kinshasa failed to pay its annual remittance to SADC of $10 million.

It is unclear how much funds SADC managed to provide so far, but sources from the bloc’s Secretariat say financial wrangles regarding the regional troop deployment persist.

Sources from the UN Security Council say that during the organ’s meeting on February 12, it was revealed that there were ongoing discussions for SAMIDRC to be the first African peacekeeping mission to receive UN funds in line with the UNSC resolution on financing AU-led peace support operations.

Unfortunately, key members, China and Russia, opposed the request, saying the UN cannot afford to finance two peacekeeping missions on DRC’s territory. The UN mission in DRC, MONUSCO, is the most expensive UN mission historically, with an annual cost of about $1 billion.

Sources from Kinshasa say South Africa is the only country pushing for the UN to finance SAMIDRC. But, the UN Security Council "is divided" on the deployment of SAMIDRC, as some members continue to question the role of the SADC mission.

Having lost hope from the UN, sources say, "South Africa is now approaching the AU seeking advocacy" and support for financing SAMIDRC.

SAMIDRC was initiated by SADC but South Africa has been turning every stone to nurture the mission, as Pretoria has a hidden agenda behind the deployment: mineral deals.

Right after the SAMIDRC deployment, the South African National Defence Force’s first mission was to fight off the M23 rebels from their captured territory in Sake, some 25 kilometers north-west of Goma, and precisely attempting to take control of Rubaya mine in Masisi, North Kivu Province.

The Rubaya mines are a series of coltan mining sites near the town of Rubaya in Masisi Territory where tons of the strategic mineral have been, for years, extracted and exported.

The SANDF’s mission in Rubaya was clear, from the very start. The South African army is protecting its country’s interests, disregarding the plight of the Congolese people who are suffering.

For South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, there is a personal catch in securing Rubaya.

In this regard, the more SAMIDRC is strengthened and stays in eastern DRC, the more South Africa will extract and export minerals from the volatile mineral rich country.

Since their deployment, SADC troops have backed inhumane activities targeting Kinyarwanda speaking Congolese being carried out by the Congolese army coalition of Burundian troops, Eastern European mercenaries, Wazalendo militia, and FDLR, a Rwandan terrorist group formed by remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

In October 2023, South Africa ordered home eight soldiers accused of sexual misconduct in DRC. They were part of the present UN peacekeeping mission, MONUSCO, in the troubled country.

The UN said the men were linked to "systematic widespread violation" of the organisation's rules.

SANDF has never been in DRC to protect Congolese nor fight negative armed groups. The South African armed forces deployed in eastern DRC to protect mines "so that President Cyril Ramaphosa and his cronies can plunder minerals in the east of the country with ease," a South African lawmaker who preferred anonymity said.