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The visit by the chiefs of staff was a strong signal of the commitment and determination of SADC and Burundi alongside the DRC. It was their first coordination meeting since the deployment of SADC troops in North Kivu. It may be recalled that recently SADC armoured vehicles were hit during an M23 attack.
Top army officials from the Southern African regional bloc visited the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo -Goma region- recently amid ongoing fighting between government troops and M23 rebels.
They held a high-level meeting in the city of Goma, the capital of the embattled North Kivu province. The mission of the delegation was to assess the progress of operations on the ground and fine-tune strategies for strengthening them. The eastern part of the DRC has been plagued by violence from local and foreign armed groups for nearly 30 years.
The visit by the chiefs of staff was a strong signal of the commitment and determination of SADC and Burundi alongside the DRC. It was their first coordination meeting since the deployment of SADC troops in North Kivu. It may be recalled that recently SADC armoured vehicles were hit during an M23 attack.
SADC generals visited the strategic town of Saké, where the rebels threw bombs, killing and wounding several people to understand the ground-level situation, having experienced the reality on the ground in terms of insecurity.
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The M23, with alleged ties to Rwanda, launched an offensive in 2021 and has since captured large swathes of North Kivu province, forcing people to flee their homes. Aid organisations fear a new humanitarian crisis in the region, as their advance threatens to cut off Goma city and leave millions of people struggling for food and medical help.
