Regional blocs meet in Harare over SADC troop pullout from DRC

DRC

Cape Town – Foreign Affairs ministers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC) are set to convene in Harare, Zimbabwe, on Monday.

The meeting follows SADC’s decision to withdraw its troops from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in a phased approach.

The move was welcomed by the M23 movement in Goma.

The southern African regional bloc decided on Thursday last week to end its military deployment to the eastern DRC where it lost more than a dozen soldiers in conflict in January, AFP reported.

The 16-nation SADC took the decision at a virtual summit on the conflict in the area that has seen some three decades of unrest and claimed millions of lives.

The “Summit terminated the mandate of SAMIDRC and directed the commencement of a phased withdrawal of SAMIDRC troops from the DRC”, it said in a statement at the end of the meeting.

The SADC Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIDRC) — made up of soldiers from Malawi, Tanzania and South Africa — was sent to the region in December 2023 to help the government of the DRC, also SADC member, restore peace and security.

According to SABC News, International Relations Minister, Ronald Lamola, stated that Pretoria remains committed to supporting peace efforts in the region.

“It’s a follow-up of the meeting we had in Dar es Salaam where it was said that we need to meet within 30 days to assess progress, where we sent the chiefs of defence forces and also the two organs of SADC and EAC to start the processes,” the report quoted Lamola as saying.

Article written by