EngRegional
DRC: Southern African bloc's troops boost aggravates security crisis
SAMIDRC troops training Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC).
Since December 2023, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been deploying troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo to - purportedly - assist the Congolese government to restore peace and security in the east of the country.
At the
beginning of the deployment, the Congolese government affirmed that the sole
and main objective of the SADC force was defeating the M23 rebellion.
Today,
six months later, SAMIDRC has suffered heavy casualties, with hundreds dead and
injured, despite the help they get from the Congolese armed forces coalition
which has troops from the Burundian army, MONUSCO, European Mercenaries,
Wazalendo militia, and the genocidal militia, FDLR.
Instead
of taking all their battle losses into consideration, the Southern African bloc
decided to deploy more troops to war-torn eastern DRC.
According
to media reports, SADC has been deploying more troops since the beginning of
the year. Approximately 5,000 more soldiers from the bloc have been deployed.
With the added support, SAMIDRC has about 8,000 troops, all dispatched to North
Kivu to help fight the M23 rebels.
Rhe
Southern African troops have brought heavy guns and military appliances,
signaling that their stay will be a long one.
SAMIDRC
has been criticized for its ineffectiveness, with some calling the mission a
“war fighting mission” instead of being a peace mission. Before, their initial
deployment, several regional leaders urged SADC to reconsider, and acknowledge
the fact that fighting the M23 rebels is not a solution to the crisis in DRC.
The
M23 rebel group is fighting against an existential threat. They are protecting
Kinyarwanda speaking Congolese, especially Congolese Tutsi, 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.
The
Southern African bloc knows this, and knows the experience very well, since it
fought the M23 rebels a decade ago, only for it to re-emerge and take up arms
again in November 2021.
However,
all these are facts that SAMIDRC ignores, and chose to fight the rebels, hoping
that defeating the rebellion will solve the crisis. That's wishful thinking.
On top
of increasing troops in eastern DRC, SADC’s funding is expected to be discussed
at the UN, where they are looking into providing support to the mission. To date,
SAMIDRC’s funding comes solely from Kinshasa and SADC. Now, however, with the
possibility of UN involvement and funding, the Southern African troops will not
leave DRC’s soil.
With all these developments, it is clear that SAMIDRC is invested in the warmongering approach, which will lead to similar pitfalls as has happened before. SADC should better help Kinshasa to solve the security crisis, politically, instead of worsening the crisis.
