President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered the deployment of 2 900 South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to help with peace keeping missions in the east of that country.
The deployment comes as the DRC government battles Tutsi-led M23 rebels whose attacks and advances in recent days, is threatening the North Kivu provincial capital, Goma.
“In fulfilling South Africa’s international obligation towards the Southern African Development Community (SADC) mission to support the Democratic Republic of Congo, President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered the employment of 2900 members of the South African National Defence Force to assist in the fight against illegal armed groups in the Eastern DRC.
The employment will cover the period from 15 December 2023 to 15 December 2024 and it was authorized in accordance with the provisions of section 201(2) (c) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa,” said Ramaphosa spokesperson Vincent Magwenya.
According to Magwenya, the budgeted expenditure to be incurred for the employment amounts to just over R2 billion, and this expenditure will not impact provisions for the defence force’s regular maintenance and emergency repairs.
He said the obligation to contribute troops to the SADC mission in the DRC is borne by all SADC 16-member states.
Meanwhile, there has been renewed protests in the DRC recently about the situation in the east of that country.
Most of the demonstrations target foreign embassies accusing them of not doing enough to avoid insecurity in that part of the country.
The protestors burned tyres, Belgium, and United States flags, before the police dispersed them.