The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party’s leader in Parliament, Dr John Hlophe has urged South Africa not to surrender the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the rebels.
This is amid calls by some political parties for the SANDF peacekeepers to withdraw from the war-torn eastern DRC.
14 South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers were killed in the DRC in the fight between M23 rebels and the DRC defence force two weeks ago.
Hlophe told the State of the Nation debate in the National Assembly on Tuesday that any inferior response by South Africa might worsen the situation in DRC.
“These rebels are funded by foreign role players including the foreign governments and businesses that use rebels to cause instability, to loot our natural resources and wealth. If run away and surrender DRC to the rebels they will gain confidence. And cause distabilisation in the whole of East Africa. And then continue to Southern Africa like they have already started in Mozambique.”
UN draft resolution
Meanwhile, a UN Security Council draft resolution on the Democratic Republic of Congo has strongly condemned the ongoing offensive and advances by the M23 rebel group in North and South Kivu and demands an immediate cessation of hostilities in eastern DRC.
The draft text seen by SABC News and yet to be fully negotiated by the 15-member Council demands the immediate withdrawal of the M23 from Goma, and the full reversal of illegitimate parallel administrations in the DRC territory, while reiterating its urgent call for all parties to conclude a ceasefire agreement. -Additional reporting by Sherwin Bryce-Pease
