14th SANDF soldier dies in DRC

SANDF

Cape Town – Another South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldier deployed in the DRC has died in hospital, bringing the total number of SANDF casualties to 14, reports said on Saturday.

Reports indicate that the SANDF soldier succumbed to his injuries in hospital on Saturday.

His death comes just a day after Southern African leaders held an extraordinary SADC summit in Harare, Zimbabwe, to discuss the ongoing crisis in eastern DRC.

The summit “reaffirmed its solidarity and unwavering commitment to continue supporting the DRC in its pursuit of safeguarding its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” according to the final statement after the talks.

The DRC is one of the 16 member nations of the regional grouping, and its President Felix Tshisekedi attended the meeting in Harare virtually.

The talks were convened after 13 soldiers from South Africa and three from Malawi, both SADC members, were killed in recent fighting around the DRC city of Goma, where they were deployed as part of regional peacekeeping efforts.

After seizing Goma, the M23 advanced south through a neighbouring province on Friday and have vowed to march all the way to the DRC capital Kinshasa.

The Harare meeting backed calls for a joint summit of the SADC and the eight-country East African Community “to deliberate on the way forward regarding the security situation in the DRC”.

It also mandated its defence grouping to engage all parties to the conflict on a ceasefire process and reiterated support for mediation efforts led by Angola and Kenya.

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