SADC terminates its mission in DR Congo

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of State have resolved to terminate the mandate of its mission in eastern DR Congo otherwise referred to as the SAMIDRC, effective immediately.

The decision announced in a communique further ordered the troops to begin their phased withdrawal from Goma.

The summit attended by the 15 SADC member states including DRC’s Felix Tshisekedi reiterated its dedication to addressing the ongoing conflict in the DRC and reaffirmed its commitment to support interventions aimed at bringing lasting peace and security in the Eastern DRC, in line with the SADC Mutual Defence Pact of 2003.

It however remained open to future military and non-military interventions for lasting peace to be realised in the region.

“Summit reiterated the need for a political and diplomatic solution with all parties including state, non-state parties, military and non-military in the Eastern DRC for the restoration of peace, security and tranquillity in the country,” the communique said.

The summit also reiterated its support for the decision from the joint Summit of the East African Community (EAC) and SADC to merge the Luanda and Nairobi processes and the inclusion of more facilitators to enhance the peace-building process.

SAMIDRC was deployed on December 15, 2023, to support the government of DRC to restore peace and stability in the Eastern DRC following the exit of the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF).

The mission entered the theatre with a different strategy from its immediate predecessor the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) which was tasked by its Heads of State to restore peace and stability in the region, as a compliment to existing peace support mechanisms, such as MONUSCO, and other bilateral arrangements that were in place for the same cause and the dialogue efforts led by the Nairobi peace process as well as the Luanda process.

SADC’s agreement with DRC was that a contingent of 5,000 soldiers would “Intervene and provide regional support in DRC to neutralize

negative forces and armed groups in Eastern DRC and restore peace and security in the country.”

The mission however began its peace enforcement efforts nearly from scratch following the return of armed groups mainly M23 to the areas they had withdrawn after a breach of a months-long ceasefire between them and the local army-FARDC on October 6, 2023.

It also returned to the region having not established some form of rapport with the outgoing force as confirmed by EACRF’s Force

Commander Major General Aphaxard Kiugu who at the time said his force did not formally handover its area of operation with the SADC force as required by military standards.

"Handing over EACRF’s theatre of operation to the SADC force was not planned but it was our desire that we hand over to them before we

exit… We did not have the opportunity to discuss it, so it has not happened. That is one of the reasons why M23 has exploited that gap and

occupied most of the areas that they had previously vacated," he said a few hours before his exit from Goma.

SAMIDRC was expected to leverage its experience in the region, having deployed a Force Intervention Brigade consisting of 6,000 troops from Malawi, Tanzania, and South Africa to stabilize the region and end mass atrocities in 2013. The FIB largely helped push M23 out that year, leading to its decade-long silence.

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An extraordinary summit of the SADC Heads of State on the situation in eastern DRC on Friday last week concluded that SAMIDRC was yet to achieve its mandate of restoring peace and defending the territorial integrity of the region.

Officials further say the mission returned less prepared for the war against M23 and has since grown in strength and firepower, a claim that

the defence minister rubbished saying pre-deployment training was conducted before the deployment of SANDF troops.

Nevertheless, the summit Summit commended the troops for their selfless act, unity, diligence resiliency shown since the beginning of the

mission and expressed its deepest condolences to the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republics of South Africa and Malawi, and the United Republic of Tanzania, and to the families of the deceased soldiers who lost their lives while serving under the SAMIDRC and wished those injured a speedy recovery.

They further called for the protection and free movement of civilians seeking safety and for all parties to uphold international humanitarian principles, stop attacks on civilians’ infrastructure, and guarantee unhindered humanitarian access.

“Summit noted the increasing humanitarian needs in the DRC and called on the international community, including the United Nations, and the African Union to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of the DRC,” the communique added in part.