Dr Jacobus Cilliers, Head of African Futures and Innovation at the Institute for Security Studies, has described the deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as a ‘mission impossible’.
He has urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to engage in serious discussions with Rwandan President Paul Kagame to bring an end to the conflict in the DRC.
The Rwandan government is reportedly providing active support to M23 rebel forces, who are said to have seized control of the capital city of Goma.
Cilliers says SANDF has a long history of being underfunded, adding that the army is completely stretched and lacks the artillery to defend itself against the powerful M23 rebels.
Last year, two soldiers were killed and three injured after a mortar landed in a SANDF camp in the DRC.
This week, nine South African soldiers were also killed in eastern Congo.
‘Dialogue, not gun’
Meanwhile, former cabinet Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma says African leaders should continue to push for dialogue in the eastern DRC.
Dlamini-Zuma who once served as Foreign Affairs minister spoke to SABC News on the sidelines of the African Women in Dialogue in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni. She says fighting war will never solve any conflict. “It is a pity that the continent is still undergoing such tragedy. I just plead with our leaders to come together and talk and resolve their issues through dialogue, not through the barrel of a gun. Women, children, and the elderly are the ones who suffer most, and yet they are the ones who don’t participate in conflicts.”
Temporary withdrawal
The Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (CONTRALESA) says the government must temporarily withdraw the members of the SANDF deployed in the DRC.
Contralesa President, Kgosi Mathupa Mokoena says soldiers were thrown into the lion’s den, as they were sent to the DRC ill-equipped and unprepared to face that situation.
Mokoena says it is an embarrassment to the government of this country to lose so many soldiers.
“Contralesa is worried and concerned that our soldiers can just die like that in the DRC. It is clear that our soldiers were thrown into the lion’s den. They were thrown there unprepared and ill-equipped. This puts into question the kind of training that is given to our soldiers. It is not the first time that our soldiers are killed like that in the DRC, hence Contralesa is calling upon our government to temporarily withdraw our soldiers until all necessary measures are put in place. Losing nine members at a go is an embarrassment to this government.”
‘Unhygienic conditions’
Amnesty International’s regional director for eastern and southern Africa says the humanitarian situation in eastern DRC is dire.
Senior campaigner Christian Rumu says humanitarian organisations have recorded more than 400 000 internally displaced people this month.
Residents shared videos of M23 rebels patrolling Goma’s main streets after a lightning advance against the Congolese army on Sunday that sent tens of thousands of people fleeing neighboring towns.
Rumu says people are being forced into unhygienic conditions.
“The humanitarian organisations MSF has published updated situations where they are receiving civilian casualties with gunshot wounds or people who were impacted by explosives. And now we know that certain areas in Goma at the moment have no electricity and no water for now. So all of that is showing a very difficult humanitarian situation.”
