SADC leaders to decide on fate of peacekeeping force in DRC

A virtual summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on Thursday, 13 March will consider a report by their defence chiefs which proposes terminating the mission of the SADC Mission in DRC (SAMIDRC) because its mandate has become “untenable”,  it is understood.

Several members of the force were killed fighting alongside the DRC military against Rwanda-backed M23 rebels near the provincial capital Goma and the nearby town of Sake between 23 and 27 January. South Africa lost 14 soldiers, most of whom were in SAMIDRC, although some were deployed in the UN peacekeeping mission Monusco. Malawi lost three soldiers and Tanzania one, all from SAMIDRC

Apart from several injured troops who have been returned to their home countries, between 1,000 and 2,000 members of SAMIDRC remain trapped as virtual prisoners of war of M23 in and around Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.

At a joint SADC-East African Community (EAC) summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on 8 February, the leaders of both organisations agreed to merge the Luanda and Nairobi peace processes which have been tackling the eastern DRC crisis.

The joint summit also tasked the defence chiefs of both organisations with:

• Drafting plans for a ceasefire;


• The provision of humanitarian assistance;


• Developing a security plan for Goma and surrounding areas; and


• Reopening Goma airport, which M23 overran and closed on 27 January.

In a preliminary report for the defence chiefs, a joint team of defence technical experts from a SADC and EAC meeting on 23 February in Dar es Salaam, noted that the battlefield situation had escalated as M23 now occupied new areas of North and South Kivu provinces, including the South Kivu capital, Bukavu. As a result, the provision of humanitarian assistance “remains constrained in Goma” and had worsened elsewhere.

Significantly, the technical experts observed that the “SAMIDRC mandate is in a dilemma and untenable following the latest developments”.

The technical experts recommended that the joint EAC-SADC secretariat should engage with the African Union Commission to facilitate the convening of joint Nairobi-Luanda peace processes to facilitate direct communication and spearhead direct engagement with the parties to the conflict and other stakeholders.

SADC troops with supporters of DRC President Felix Tshisekedi at a campaign rally at Sainte Therese, Kinshasa on 18 December 2023. (Photo: John Wessels / AFP)

Unconditional ceasefire

The report also called for the two regional bodies to reach out to the parties in the conflict to commit to an unconditional ceasefire and cessation of hostilities, and to cease further expansion.

The report proposed the formation of a new joint EAC-SADC hybrid force “to securitise the areas under the occupation of M23 in North and South Kivu” and to open humanitarian corridors and supply routes.

The technical experts also proposed that Monusco should be called upon to support this new force. However, according to a UN Security Council Report, DRC does not support the deployment of this joint force.

The EAC and SADC defence chiefs met a day later, 24 February, to consider this report and largely adopted it, Daily Maverick understands.

On 6 March, the SADC Organ Troika Plus — comprising the current, incoming and outgoing chairs of the SADC security Organ (Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia) — held a virtual extraordinary summit, with the participation of troop-contributing countries of SAMIDRC — South Africa, Malawi and Tanzania — and DRC to discuss the report. It is understood they also supported the withdrawal of SAMIDRC.

However, it is likely that the details of the withdrawal, including its timing, will be hard to decide. SA for one favours a gradual withdrawal for the sake of credibility, but it is not clear if this will be possible given the difficult situation of the remaining troops around Goma.

Last month, SA deployed additional troops and equipment to Lubumbashi, about 1,000km south of Goma, though it is not clear what their mandate is. It could be to maintain an official SAMIDRC presence even after the beleaguered troops around Goma are withdrawn.

Answering questions from the opposition in Parliament on Tuesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that a full summit of SADC would be held this week to deliberate on the next steps in DRC.

He said the involvement of SADC in the process should lead to a comprehensive and inclusive cessation of hostilities that would lead to the withdrawal of the troops of the various troop-contributing countries.

The UN Security Council was also due to discuss DRC on Tuesday evening. DM