(3 Minutes Read)
Regional power South Africa has committed nearly 3,000 troops to the SADC mission in the DRC, which were deployed last December. Just over 2,000 more troops come from Tanzania and Malawi.
Southern African leaders agreed to extend for another year the presence of regional troops deployed to fight rebels in the conflict-torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). They also pledged to work for peace in Mozambique, where disputed elections have fueled unrest.
The leaders gathered in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, for an extraordinary summit under the auspices of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a 16-nation bloc that includes the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Regional power South Africa has committed nearly 3,000 troops to the SADC mission in the DRC, which were deployed last December. Just over 2,000 more troops come from Tanzania and Malawi.
The mission is one of a myriad of forces operating in the mineral-rich region, which has been plagued by decades of armed violence. They include Congolese government soldiers, foreign mercenaries, a United Nations peacekeeping force and more than a hundred groups fighting for power, land and precious mineral resources. Others are trying to defend their communities. Some armed groups have been accused of massacres and ethnic cleansing.
Neighbouring Rwanda has rejected accusations, including those by the Congolese government and UN experts, that it supports the M23, the main rebel group operating in eastern DRC, which is currently experiencing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with more than 7 million people displaced.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/m23-captures-drcs-kamandi-gite-town/
UN peacekeepers were due to leave the DRC next month. However, rising violence in the east of the country by Rwandan-backed rebels has prompted them to stay. Congolese Communications Minister Patrick Muyaya said a new timetable would be drawn up for the force’s departure, although he gave no further details.
