South Africa will send 2,900 troops as part of its contribution to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) force deployed to tackle armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the president’s office said in a statement on Monday February 12.
The one-year deployment will cover the period between December 15. 2023 and Dec. 15, 2024, and will cost around 2 billion rand ($105.75 million), the statement said.
The 16-member state SADC approved the eastern DRC mission in May last year to help the Central African nation, the world’s top supplier of cobalt and Africa’s top copper producer, address instability and deteriorating security in its restive eastern region.
Decades of conflicts in eastern DRC between myriad rival armed groups over land and resources has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced more than 7 million.
The SADC force has an offensive mandate to support DRC’s army fight armed groups. It will include troops from Malawi, South Africa and Tanzania.
The employment will cover the period from 15 December 2023 to 15 December 2024, and it was authorised in accordance with the provisions of section Section 201(2)(c) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa,” a statement from the presidency read.
The budgeted expenditure to be incurred for the employment amounts to just over R2 billion.
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“This expenditure will not impact provisions for the defence force’s regular maintenance and emergency repairs.
“The obligation to contribute troops to the SADC mission in the DRC is borne by all SADC member states.”
The deployment comes as DRC battles Tutsi-led M23 rebels whose attacks and advances in recent days, is threatening the North Kivu provincial capital, Goma
A week ago, the SANDF confirmed that one of its Oryx helicopters came under fire while en route from Rwindi to Goma in the Eastern DRC.
The Oryx, under the United Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Monusco), was conducting casualty evacuation in Rwindi.
According to defence force spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini, the pilot and commander of the aircraft suffered a gunshot wound to his finger, while the Ops Medic on the flight was injured in the chest. He is in a stable condition.
“The rest of the passengers onboard suffered no injuries, and the helicopter landed safely in Goma,” said the SANDF in a statement.
The SANDF’s deployment to the DRC has not been without controversy, with eight soldiers having been recalled from the DRC due to serious allegations of misconduct in October last year.
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