Regional
South Africa continues to suffer losses in DRC war
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.