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Two South African soldiers killed, 3 injured on DRC mission

A military convoy of South Africa National Defence Forces (SANDF) rides along a dirt road in the Maringanha district in Pemba on August 5, 2021. (Photo: Alfredo Zuniga/ AFP)

By Mwangi Maina | 15 Feb 2024

This marks SA's first fatalities since it deployed 2,900 troops to the mineral-rich region last December to quell violence.

Two South African soldiers were killed by mortar fire while on a mission in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) announced Thursday.

This marks SA's first fatalities since it deployed 2,900 troops to the mineral-rich region last December to quell violence.

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The South African military said three soldiers were injured in the incident near the eastern city of Goma.

"A mortar bomb landed inside one of the South African contingent military bases inflicting casualties and injuries to the SANDF soldiers," it said in a statement.

"As a result of this indirect fire, the SANDF suffered two fatalities and three members sustained injuries."

The statement said the injured were taken to the nearest hospital in Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province.

Pretoria added that details were still sketchy and that further investigations would be conducted to "determine the basis of the incident".

President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered that the 2,900 SANDF members join the Southern African Development Community Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC), supporting the government's peace, security, and stability efforts, from December 15, 2023 to December 15, 2024.

SAMIDRC also includes forces from Malawi, Tanzania, and the Congolese Army (FARDC).

Recent clashes in the eastern DRC, between the Congolese army and M23 rebels, have led to significant displacement, worsening an already severe humanitarian crisis.

Since November 2023, violent conflicts have forced more than a million people to flee their homes, adding to the 2.4 million displaced in the North Kivu region.

Today, at least seven million people are internally displaced in the DRC due to the ongoing conflict.

The M23 resurfaced in 2021 and has seized many parts of North Kivu, a region that has faced violence since the 1990s.

The DRC, the United Nations and other parties claim Rwanda is backing the rebels to control North Kivu's vast mineral resources but President Paul Kagame's administration has denied this.