WeeklySA_AdminTRUCE: DR Congo and Rwanda expected to draft a peace deal by today, committing to respect each other’s sovereignty and refraining from providing military support to armed groups…
By Lehlohonolo Lehana
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) says it has begun withdrawing its troops and equipment from the eastern DRC.
SANDF’s Rear Admiral Prince Tshabalala says since 29 April, their advance team has safely crossed and is en route to Tanzania. Tshabalala said a reconnaissance mission, which included representatives from Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania and the Sadc secretariat was conducted from April 14 to 19 to assess and confirm the withdrawal route from Goma through Rwanda to Chato in Tanzania towards the respective TCC home countries.
The withdrawal, part of diplomatic efforts to end the violence in eastern DRC, followed a peace deal Qatar brokered between the DRC and Rwanda last week. This development was followed days later by another agreement between the two nations in the United States, whereby the two parties agreed to draft a peace deal by today, committing to respect each other’s sovereignty and refraining from providing military support to armed groups.
The Southern African soldiers were deployed to the war-ravaged eastern DRC as part of the SADC peacekeeping mission in December 2023. The mission was terminated two months ago after 14 soldiers died during a battle with M23 rebels for control of the Goma airport.
Tshabalala said the SADC summit, along with subsequent meetings of SADC ministers of defence and the chiefs of defence forces of the contributing countries of the Southern African Development Community Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC) endorsed the withdrawal plan via road through Rwanda and Tanzania. The contributing countries are Malawi, South Africa and Tanzania.
“The team’s findings informed the finalisation of the withdrawal plan. This plan will ensure the safe and efficient return of personnel and assets.
“The withdrawal will take place in phases and the SANDF will provide regular updates to the public regarding the safe return of our soldiers to South Africa,” he said. The SAMIDRC deployment was criticised by military specialists and soldiers for the seeming haphazard and ill-prepared way in which South African forces, as the leading country, were sent to eastern DRC, without air support and proper logistics.
Equipment and personnel from the three SAMIDRC troop contributing countries (TCCs) are being withdrawn from bases in Goma and Sake.
The DRC government has launched a bid to strip former President Joseph Kabila of immunity so he can face trial on charges of supporting the M23 insurgency in the country’s east, where the government is seeking to draft a peace deal this week, according to Reuters.
Kabila, who agreed to step down in 2018 after almost two decades in power, has been out of the country since late 2023, mostly in South Africa. He said last month he would return to help find a solution to the crisis in the east, where Rwandan-backed M23 rebels have seized large areas this year
A return to Congo by Kabila, who has denied supporting the rebels, could complicate a US-backed bid to end the rebellion in eastern Congo, which contains valuable minerals that US President Donald Trump’s administration is keen to help mine. Meanwhile, an anthrax outbreak was compounding the worsening security situation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), driving up humanitarian needs and further limiting access to basic services.
This is according to the latest United Nations agencies reports, which have warned that the escalating crisis was also widening critical gaps in healthcare and protection, amid a broader surge in infectious diseases. And with nearly seven million people forcibly displaced by violence since advances by M23 rebels earlier this year, the DRC is facing one of the world’s most complex displacement crises, according to the UN migration agency (IOM).Living in overcrowded and under-resourced camps, displaced populations are increasingly vulnerable to both disease and attack.
Since January 2025 alone, over 660 000 people have been forced to flee the Goma region after Government forces lost control of the key city along with Bukavu to the south. – Additional reporting by Reuters and Al Jazeera
