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Ramaphosa likely to attend joint SADC-EAC summit to address DRC crisis

Ramaphosa likely to attend joint SADC-EAC summit to address DRC crisis
President of Rwanda Paul Kagame attends an official welcoming ceremony before his meeting with his Latvian counterpart at the Residence of the President of Latvia in Riga, Latvia, 02 October 2024. During their meeting, both presidents discussed bilateral relations, current security challenges in Africa and Europe, as well as cooperation in international organizations. The Rwandan president is on a one-day official visit to Latvia. (Photo: EPA-EFE / TOMS KALNINS)
Peter Fabricius
By Peter Fabricius
3 Feb 2025
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SANDF troops remained barricaded in their bases, down to one meal a day, waiting to be rescued.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to attend a joint summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC) in Dar es Salaam on Saturday, 8 February, to address the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame – the main belligerents in the deadly fighting over the past 12 days – will also attend the joint summit, according to Kenyan President William Ruto, who announced it. 

drc tshisekedi President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Felix Tshisekedi. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Gian Ehrenzeller)



drc kagame President of Rwanda Paul Kagame. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Toms Kalnins)



Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said it was “most likely” that Ramaphosa would attend.

The joint summit was decided on by the EAC at a summit last week and agreed to by SADC at a summit in Harare on Friday.

Fourteen South African soldiers were killed in fighting the M23 Congolese rebels, strongly backed by the Rwandan Defence Force. The SA National Defence Force soldiers were part of the SADC Mission in DRC (SAMIDRC) which was mandated to disarm the M23 rebels.

It has been fighting them for more than a year but the fighting intensified on 23 January leading to the deaths of the 14 SANDF soldiers, some of whom were attached to the UN peacekeeping mission Monusco. Three Malawian and two Tanzanian soldiers attached to SAMIDRC also died as well as one Uruguayan, peacekeeping with Monusco.

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

Ruto said Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan had agreed to host the summit. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud have confirmed their participation. 

Ruto said ministers from the participating countries would meet on Friday and the summit would be held on Saturday.

Ramaphosa defends deployment


In his weekly newsletter on Monday, Ramaphosa said the 14 South African soldiers had been killed in violation of a ceasefire agreement between the DRC and Rwanda facilitated by President João Lourenço of Angola.

Noting that the M23 had also killed members of Monusco, he said that the UN Security Council had roundly condemned the attack, “reiterating that attacks against peacekeepers may constitute war crimes”.

He said the SA soldiers had “lost their lives in defence of the defenceless: the men, women and children who are the victims of one of the world’s most protracted conflicts.

“Since 1996, the conflict in the DRC, and the hunger and disease it has caused, has claimed millions of lives. According to the UN, more than seven million Congolese have been internally displaced.

“The various state and non-state actors involved in the conflict have been implicated in grave human rights abuses including large-scale attacks on civilians, abductions and extrajudicial killings, torture, the recruitment of child soldiers, forced labour, human trafficking and mass rape.”

Read more: How SA’s democratic society weakens Ramaphosa’s hand against Rwandan dictatorship

Ramaphosa said in the wake of the killing of the SA soldiers “some have questioned South Africa’s presence in the eastern DRC. Some have said that we have no business being there.

“But violence and conflict in Africa is the business of all Africans. The humanitarian, economic and social effects of these conflicts are felt across borders and regions. Instability in any part of the continent affects the prospects for growth and development across the continent.

“For a lasting peace to be secured in the eastern DRC, there must be an immediate end to hostilities and a ceasefire that must be respected by all.”

He said the SAMIDRC mission had “operational timeframes and an end date. The mission will wind down in accordance with the implementation of various confidence-building measures and when the ceasefire we have called for takes root.

“As this happens, securing the safety of our troops remains paramount. The situation in the areas where our troops are stationed remains highly volatile. We are making every effort to ensure that our soldiers are well equipped and sufficiently supported during the mission.

Ceasefire ‘a necessary precondition’


“A ceasefire is a necessary precondition for peace talks that must include all parties to the conflict whether they are state or non-state actors, Congolese or non-Congolese.”

He called for all parties to embrace peace efforts including the Luanda process led by Lourenço which led to the ceasefire in August last year.

“We endorse the call by the UN Security Council for the reversal of the territorial expansion by the M23 rebel group and for the exit of external forces from the DRC.”

Though SADC last December extended SAMIDRC’s mandate for a year until December 2025 and Ramaphosa suggested it would wind down only in accordance with confidence-building measures and a ceasefire, it is not clear that after the heavy losses over the past two weeks that it will remain in the DRC much longer.

Its troops are surrounded in eastern DRC in deteriorating conditions. A military source told Daily Maverick on Monday night that the SANDF troops in their two bases at Goma airport and at Mubambiro near Sake to the northwest remained “barricaded in base, no hostilities. Down to one meal per day because UN tells them it can’t provide more. Awaiting orders.”

The priority seems to be simply to get them home. DM

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