EngRegional
Why SADC mission in DRC will fail
The Southern African
Development Community (SADC) military mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) is
scheduled to end its mission there by December 2024. It was deployed to
Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado Province in 2021, to help fight terrorists who had
been terrorizing the region since 2017.
As reported, the end of the
SADC mission in Mozambique is attributed to budgetary constraints more than any
other reason. However, the bloc’s deployment to the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC) without similar complaints rises questions. Do the missions have
different sponsors?
Although SADC is making
arrangement to pull its troops out, Mozambique is under a new wave of terrorist
attacks. It is strange how SADC can then shift its attention elsewhere and send
troops to eastern DRC. Is there, perhaps, a more compelling, or better, deal in
DRC with lucrative incentives?
Questions arise as to whether
this would be the right time for SADC to withdraw its troops from Mozambique,
when insurgents are making a strong comeback.
Political analysts believe
that the move defeats the purpose and objective of SADC’s original deployment
and is a betrayal of the Mozambican people who are still in danger.
On May 12, the ISIS-affiliated
Al Sunna Wal Jammah (ASWJ) terrorist group attacked a position of the
Mozambican Defence and Security Forces in the district of Ancuabe, in Cabo
Delgado province.
The attack claimed the lives
of 15 people, four were taken hostage and hundreds others displaced. That was
the second time in less than three days that terrorists attacked in Ancuabe
district.
The terrorists looted shops,
and warehouses and stole more than 15 vehicles in Macomia town. Macomia District
is in the zone controlled by SAMIM. The deployment of SAMIM and Rwandan troops
to Cabo Delgado in 2021 greatly neutralized the Islamic State-linked
insurgents.
Thousands of earlier displaced
people had already returned to their homes and resumed normal activities.
The SADC’s mission to DRC,
SAMIDRC, was deployed on December 15, 2023, to support the Congolese government
to restore peace and security in its east where more than 260 armed groups
operate.
However, for over five months
of deployment, SADC has not been able to bring peace and order in the area.
Instead of bringing peace and eliminating armed groups, SAMIDRC has only
focused on the M23 rebels.
In 2013, a force from the SADC
region – the Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) was embedded within the UN
Mission in DRC (MONUSCO). The FIB jointly with Congolese armed forces (FARDC)
had one mission – to fight M23.
But, a decade later, the problem resurged. The FIB won the battle, not the war. For SADC to side with Congolese president Felix Tshisekedi’s agenda to militarily address the political issue is a wrong move. The SADC’s military option to address eastern DRC conflicts contradicts the spirit of the Nairobi and Luanda peace processes.
