Four more dead, SANDF force in ‘very tense situation’ as M23 overruns Goma

Four more South African soldiers have died in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), bringing to 13 the number of SA soldiers who have died in fierce fighting with M23 rebels backed by Rwanda over the last five days.

Three of the soldiers died in fighting at the airport in the provincial capital of Goma on Monday, said officials. The fourth died from injuries sustained in a major clash with M23 on Thursday and Friday last week when nine SA National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers died. The rebels have now captured Goma.

M23 claimed to have captured the city earlier on Monday. Later on Monday, there was a skirmish between M23 and DRC forces and their allies in which the three SANDF soldiers were killed.

SANDF spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini told Daily Maverick on Monday night that SANDF troops were confined to their bases in Goma and Sake, 23km to the northwest “in a very tense situation”.

The troops are surrounded and unable to get out to seek treatment for their wounded or to receive supplies or reinforcements.

Dlamini denied that the SANDF had surrendered its main base at Sake. A disturbing video circulated on social media shows an SANDF soldier raising a white flag at the base.

Dlamini confirmed the authenticity of the video but said the white flag had been raised as part of a brief truce agreed between the SANDF forces and the M23/Rwandan force to allow M23 to collect their dead from the battlefield. The SANDF agreed to that if the SANDF could transport its injured out of the camp for treatment.

Dlamini said the M23/Rwandan negotiators withdrew to consult with their superiors about the terms and never returned, so the truce lapsed. They never collected their dead and the SANDF wounded in the camp were unable to leave to receive medical treatment.

“But it was not a surrender,” he emphasised.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBUSJ8hU94c

‘Deafening silence’

The Democratic Alliance has called on Defence Minister Angie Motshekga to urgently address the situation of the SA troops in DRC.

“Reports continue to emerge of intense fighting involving South African soldiers in Goma, including at Goma International Airport,” DA defence spokesperson Chris Hattingh told Daily Maverick.

He slammed Motshekga’s “deafening silence, lack of compassion and deliberate withholding of information regarding the plight of our brave soldiers… Her failure to lead during what may be the darkest chapter in the history of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) since its inception in 1994 raises serious questions about her suitability for this critical role.”

Daily Maverick reported on Sunday that the SANDF was considering sending a battalion of troops and a paratroop quick response force to relieve its besieged troops in Sake and Goma. Military sources showed us the orders.

But Dlamini denied this to News24 on Monday and suggested that other members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Mission in DRC (SAMIDRC) could relieve the SANDF troops instead.

When Daily Maverick asked Dlamini about this on Monday he said he was not aware of any plans to send reinforcements.

Our sources said that the SANDF had had to abort its planned reinforcement and resupply when the M23 rebels rapidly overran Goma from Sunday, making it impossible to fly into the airport.

On Saturday, 25 January, the SANDF announced that nine of its soldiers had been killed and several wounded in two days of fierce fighting with the M23 on Thursday and Friday. It said the SA troops had halted M23’s advance on Goma and even pushed it back. Seven of the troops who died had been deployed with SAMIDRC and two with the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC, Monusco, it said.

The UN later reported that three Malawian soldiers in SAMIDRC and a Uruguayan soldier in Monusco had also died in the same battle.

The situation on the ground changed rapidly after that. On Sunday, the UN’s special representative in the DRC and head of Monusco, Bintou Keita, told a special urgent session of the UN Security Council: “M23 and Rwandan forces penetrated Munigi quarter in the outskirts of Goma city, causing mass panic and flight amongst the population.”

‘We are trapped’

Keita added that the roads were blocked and that M23 had declared Goma’s airspace closed. “In other words, we are trapped,” she said, referring to Monusco troops based in Goma.

On Monday, M23 claimed that “the liberation of the city has been successfully carried out, and the situation is under control”. It added that all personnel of the DRC army, FARDC, must hand over their weapons to Monusco for safekeeping.

South Africa’s ambassador to the UN, Mathu Joyini, told the Security Council on Sunday: “It is crucial for the Rwanda Defence Force to cease support to the M23 and for the M23 to immediately cease all hostile actions and withdraw from occupied areas.

“We cannot accept a world wherein non-state actors are armed to do the will of other states, while those states refuse to accept responsibility for unnecessary armed violence and potential war crimes.”

She demanded that the Security Council “take decisive action” against Rwanda, including calling for its withdrawal from DRC. She also called for a return to the Luanda peace process in which the DRC and Rwanda agreed to a ceasefire, which came into effect on 4 August 2024.

Rwanda’s UN ambassador, Ernest Rwamucyo, responded by accusing the DRC of violating the ceasefire in October last year by attacking the M23. He said it had increased militarisation, including the deployment of heavy weaponry and additional troops — 10,000 from Burundi — along the border with Rwanda.

Rwamucyo repeated familiar criticism that the DRC army was collaborating with the FDLR armed rebel group — the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda — which was established in eastern DRC in the 1990s by ethnic Hutu who had fled Rwanda after participating in the 1994 genocide against ethnic Tutsis.

He added the claim that Monusco was also providing support to the FDLR. He also took a swipe by implication at South Africa, saying: “The recent military mobilisation by the DRC, including the formation of a broader coalition involving the FARDC, the FDLR, Wazalendo [a group of irregular fighters made up of rebel groups allied with the armed forces of the DRC], 10,000 Burundian forces, 1,600 European mercenaries, and SADC-led SAMIDRC, represents an unprecedented security threat to Rwanda.”

He said Monusco was “at the risk of being sucked into a conflict in which it would be a belligerent force.

“By going beyond its mandate of peacekeeping and protecting civilians, Monusco is now joining a broader coalition with a clearly stated goal to enact regime change in Rwanda, which is another UN member state.” DM