Four soldiers from the SADC mission killed in an armed attack in eastern DRC

April 9 (EUROPA PRESS) –

At least four soldiers have been killed and three others have been wounded in an armed attack against a Southern African Development Community (SADC) camp in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The fatalities are three Tanzanian soldiers and a South African, who succumbed to injuries while receiving medical treatment in a hospital in the Congolese city of Goma, as reported by the regional body.

“This unfortunate incident occurred after a hostile mortar shell landed near the camp they were staying in. (…) The soldiers were deployed under the auspices of SADC as part of a regional response to address the unstable and deteriorating security situation prevailing in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” reads a statement.

The SADC has conveyed its condolences to the loved ones of the victims and the Governments of South Africa and Tanzania, “for the irreplaceable loss of the deceased soldiers”, while wishing a speedy recovery to the three injured.

At the end of December, the first SADC soldiers were deployed in the conflictive province of North Kivu with the mission of preventing further advances by the March 23 Movement (M23) militias, replacing the recently withdrawn East African Community mission. (CAO), repudiated by the local population.

This mission has the objective of alleviating a conflict that has plunged the territory, under a state of emergency along with the neighboring province of Ituri since 2021, into absolute chaos, as well as restoring the confidence of the population after the bad experience with the mission of the CAO, which has only lasted a year after the Congolese themselves accused the elements of this mission of acting side by side with the M23 militias themselves.

The M23 is a rebel group made up mainly of Congolese Tutsis. After a conflict between 2012 and 2013, the authorities and the group signed a peace agreement, although the militia launched a new offensive in October 2022 that has led to a serious diplomatic crisis between the DRC and Rwanda, accused of financing these rebels. , something that Kigali has categorically denied.