About 2,000 SA troops remain trapped in DRC with no clear rescue plan

South African troops on Sunday remained surrounded by hostile forces in their bases in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and were rapidly running out of supplies, with no clear idea emerging of how Pretoria planned to rescue them.

The death toll of SA National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers in battles with the M23 rebels strongly backed by Rwanda rose to 14 at the weekend when another soldier injured in the fighting between 23 and 27 January succumbed to their injuries.

The 14 South Africans were among at least 773 people killed in and around Goma, the capital of North Kivu province and largest city in eastern DRC, as fighting intensified between DRC government forces backed by regional forces and the M23 rebels who seized control of the city last weekend.

After losing nine soldiers in temporarily halting the advance of M23 on 23 and 24 January and three more around Goma airport on 27 January — with two more dying later of their injuries — about 2,000 SANDF troops were on Sunday trapped in their bases at Goma airport and Mubambiro, about 23km to the north-west.

Cargo aircraft were tracked flying from Waterkloof Air Force Base to Lubumbashi in the DRC or neighbouring Burundi at the weekend, sparking speculation that the SANDF was planning to extract its troops that way.

However, it is uncertain how the SANDF troops would get to any collection point, as both bases were surrounded by M23 rebels or the Rwandan troops who support M23.

The SANDF would either have to negotiate with M23 and Rwanda to let them out or risk a hazardous firefight to extricate them by force.

The SANDF insists the troops are not hostages and have not been disarmed. However, a defence expert told Daily Maverick that although the SANDF troops retained their weapons, they may not carry them in terms of a truce they had reached with M23.

The SANDF troops at Mubambiro are attached to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Mission in DRC (SAMIDRC) — which includes soldiers from Malawi and Tanzania, some of whom also died in the recent fighting. The SANDF troops at Goma airport are attached to SAMIDRC or the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC, Monusco.

Running out of food

Though the SANDF has not provided information, it seemed the troops were running out of food and water and had been unable to remove their dead or get their wounded to hospital.

At a SADC summit in Harare on Friday, leaders, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, called for “the immediate dispatch of ministers of defence, chiefs of defence and troop-contributing countries to DRC to ensure that the SAMIDRC troops are safe and facilitate immediate repatriation of the deceased troops and those who are injured”.

They also resolved that the ministers of defence from SADC’s Troika on Defence and Politics would travel to DRC to oversee the repatriation process.

However, there has been no official word about whether or when such a mission might take place.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame seems to be calling the shots, and so South Africa would have to negotiate with him to get its troops out — or take him on.

Defence analysts believe Kagame would prefer to humiliate the SANDF troops by forcing them to leave DRC through Rwanda — after laying down their arms in a very public surrender — which would display them as prisoners of war. That is what he did last week with a contingent of Romanian mercenaries who had been fighting on the side of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC).

The situation of the SA troops was growing ever more precarious as they waited to be rescued.

A report broadcast by the official Rwanda Broadcast Agency showed leaders of M23 visiting the SA base at Mubambiro near Sake at about midday last Thursday, 30 January, and meeting SANDF commanders.

The SANDF commanders made three requests to the M23 commanders: to be able to visit Goma airport to repatriate the bodies of their fallen comrades; to have access to previous battlefields to recover the bodies of their fallen comrades; and to be able to collect food and supplies from Goma and to use armoured vehicles to do so to prevent looting.

M23 asked the SANDF commanders to put these requests in writing, according to the RBA report. It is not clear what happened next, but it seems the requests from the SANDF were turned down.

Time limit

SA defence analysts confirmed the predicament of the troops was becoming increasingly dire.

“I’m not sure exactly how long the base can hold out, but it definitely needs to move the wounded and dead, and the water and food supply will be an issue. There’s a time limit,” said one defence expert.

He added that the position of the SA troops based at Goma airport seemed to be slightly better than that of the troops at Mubambiro/Sake. The SANDF troops at the airport are members of both SAMIDRC and Monusco.

“The SANDF camp remains intact and secured behind barricades. ⁠All our personnel are unharmed with zero casualties (since three SANDF soldiers died last Monday, 27 January when they were caught in the crossfire of an exchange of mortars between the M23 and the DRC army, FARDC).

“The SANDF Goma airport camp has power and intermittent internet and is relying on satellite phones for communication. It has access to water from the nearby Uruguayan contingent of Monusco.”

The analyst said the troops had only existing food supplies and were eating one meal a day plus breakfast cereal. They had had no septic service for nearly two weeks, and the Rwandan troops controlling the airport were “indicating a non-hostile stance towards our personnel”.

DRC forces have surrendered but retain their weapons to prevent looting. Locals have seized some of the aircraft at the airport but not the South African aircraft.

At the SADC summit in Harare, the leaders called for an immediate summit of SADC and the East African Community “to deliberate on the way forward regarding the security situation in the DRC”.

The communique did not record the thinking of leaders about the future of SAMIDRC, but a senior SA official told Daily Maverick before the summit that it was likely SADC would seek an “orderly” withdrawal of the force. Orderly meant a withdrawal over several months and only after a ceasefire had been agreed upon and substantive negotiations had begun to address the underlying causes of the conflict.

But it now seems that such an orderly withdrawal will be unlikely and that SA would be happy just to get its troops out.

No withdrawal

Meanwhile, in a video message over the weekend, the leader of M23/Alliance Fleuve Congo, Corneille Nangaa, said the group was going to stay in Goma and not withdraw. Its objective was to capture Kinshasa to remove “the dictatorship of [President Felix] Tshisekedi.” Bukavu, the capital of nearby South Kivu province, was its next objective, he said.

On Saturday, the SANDF released the names of the 14 soldiers who lost their lives in the DRC during combat with the M23 rebels.

SANDF spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini identified the fallen soldiers as:

• Staff Sergeant William Eddie Cola;


• Staff Sergeant Molahlehi Ishmael Molahlehi;


• Staff Sergeant Shwahlane Theophilus Seepe;


• Corporal Matome Justice Malesa;


• Corporal Rinae Nemavhulani;


• Lance Bombardier Itumeleng Macdonald Moreo;


• Lance Corporal Tseke Moffat Molapo;


• Lance Corporal Metse Stansly Raswiswi;


• Rifleman Sebatane Richard Chokoe;


• Rifleman Derrick Maluleke;


• Rifleman Tshidiso Andries Mabele;


• Rifleman Calvin Louis Moagi;


• Rifleman Mokete Joseph Mobe; and


• Private Peter Jacobus Strydom.

Meanwhile, Rwanda rejected accusations against it at the SADC summit that the Rwandan Defence Force and M23 had attacked the government forces of DRC, SAMIDRC and the civilian population in North Kivu. Rwanda said it was defending its borders and protecting civilians, not attacking civilians.

“SADC has deployed an offensive force, SAMIDRC, to support the war of the government of DRC against its own people — the M23 and the members of their community — many of whom have fled as refugees to Rwanda and throughout the region,” it claimed in a statement.

Recent information discovered in taking Goma, including documentary evidence of attack preparations planned jointly by the “foreign forces” fighting in eastern DRC, “indicate that combat objectives were not limited to defeating M23, but also attacking Rwanda,” according to the statement.

United Nations agencies on Friday called for an end to the violence, warning that the situation for civilians in and around Goma continued to worsen and they were likely to be trapped by days of intense fighting. There were warnings of deteriorating conditions as hospitals were overwhelmed, essential supplies ran low and bodies remained in the streets, increasing fears of disease outbreaks.

According to the UN, the fighting has claimed at least 700 lives and left 2,800 people injured over the past five days, with thousands more displaced.

The World Food Programme reported critical shortages of water and food, with the next 24 hours being seen as crucial. DM