Southern Africa regional bloc to withdraw troops from DRC amid M23 advance

The Southern African regional bloc has said it will conclude its troop deployment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), having decided on a “phased withdrawal”.

Leaders from the 16-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) – which has lost at least a dozen soldiers in the eastern DRC since January – held a virtual summit on Thursday to discuss the ongoing conflict in an area that has seen three decades of unrest.

The meeting comes a day after Angola announced that peace talks between the DRC and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group would begin next week.

In a communique released after the summit, the group said DC’s mission in the DRC (also known as SAMIDRC) would be “terminated … and directed the commencement of a phased withdrawal of SAMIDRC troops”.

M23 has seized swaths of the mineral-rich and volatile eastern DRC, including the key cities of Goma and Bukavu, in a lightning advance since January.

The Congolese government says at least 7,000 people have died since then.

While officials did not comment on the size of the military deployment, the bulk of SAMIDRC troops come from South Africa, which is estimated to have sent at least 1,000 soldiers.

South Africa lost 14 soldiers in the eastern DRC conflict in January. Most were part of the SADC mission, but at least two were deployed as part of a separate United Nations peacekeeping mission. Elsewhere, three Malawian troops in the SADC deployment were also killed.

The mission was sent to the eastern DRC in December 2023 to help the government restore peace and security amid attacks by armed groups including M23.