Government rebuffs opposition calls for immediate withdrawal of SA forces from DRC

The government has resisted a chorus of demands from other parties in Parliament for the immediate withdrawal of South Africa’s trapped forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

In a debate on Monday called by the Democratic Alliance to discuss the deaths of 14 SA National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers in fighting with the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels last month, the DA, EFF, Action SA, UDM, Bosa and ATM all called for an immediate or swift return of the estimated 2,000 SANDF troops who remain, surrounded by the enemy, in their military camps around the city of Goma in eastern DRC.

The DA’s defence spokesperson Chris Hattingh said the troops did not die in defence of the defenceless, as President Cyril Ramaphosa had claimed.

“They were not part of a well-planned peacekeeping mission. They were thrown into battle ill-equipped, underfunded and without critical support in one of the world’s longest-running and most brutal conflicts.

“They fought alongside the DRC armed forces against the well-trained, well-equipped M23 rebels, yet their own government sent them into war unprepared.”

Most of the SANDF soldiers who died were deployed with the Southern African Development Community Mission to DRC (SAMIDRC). Some were attached to the UN peacekeeping mission Monusco.

Ministers defend deployment

Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga justified the mission of the troops, saying they were sent into eastern DRC to uphold one of the pillars of South Africa’s foreign policy, which was to contribute to the creation of peace and stability in Africa and the world.

She said that helping to create stability in eastern DRC was also in SA’s interests as it would help to stem the flow of refugees from the conflict.

She also noted that SA had been trying to bring peace and stability to the DRC since 1997 when then president Nelson Mandela hosted then president Mobutu Sese Seko, of what was still called Zaire, and rebel leader Laurent Kabila, for peace talks on the SA Navy ship SAS Outeniqua.

SA subsequently hosted the Sun City peace talks which had helped to bring peace to the country. SA had also been contributing troops to UN peacekeeping forces since 1999.

Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola agreed, telling Parliament, “South Africa as part of the continent cannot be a bystander as insecurity anywhere in the continent is an insecurity on our shores.”

He said that an abrupt withdrawal of SA forces from DRC as MPs had called for “is not even a tactical retreat; it is even worse than a surrender, as with the number of armed groups in the area, there lies ambush”.

If it decided to withdraw its troops immediately, the SANDF could be sending its troops into an ambush by any one of the 150 armed groups in the area.

Instead, Lamola said the government would follow the “clear way forward” agreed by the joint summit of SADC and the East African Community (EAC) on Friday.

 Read more: Summit of regional leaders makes little progress in resolving DRC conflict

This included:

• An immediate and unconditional ceasefire and cessation of hostilities;
• Provision of humanitarian assistance including reparation of the deceased and evacuation of the injured;
• Developing a securitisation plan for Goma and surrounding areas;
• Opening of main supply routes to and from Goma;
• The immediate re-opening of Goma Airport and;
• The peaceful resolution of the conflict through the Luanda and Nairobi peace processes.

‘Bring them home’

EFF leader Julius Malema told Parliament that the “reckless deployment” of SA troops had been presented as a peacekeeping effort. In truth, however, the SANDF soldiers were engaged in direct combat “fighting against the highly armed and strategically superior M23 rebels who are supported by the reckless President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame”.

“Our troops must be brought home immediately. We cannot allow more lives to be lost in a senseless conflict while corrupt politicians continue to loot and mismanage our defence resources. Bring them back home now.”

Bosa leader Musi Maimane agreed, saying that SA should make every effort to bring its troops home.

“If these were your children, would you send them to DRC?” he asked.

Read more: South Africa navigates a diplomatic tightrope to bring troops’ remains home from eastern DRC

However, the IFP took a different tack. MP Russel Cebekhulu said SA had to help the African Union with its mission to “silence the guns” in Africa. He warned against an “abrupt and uncoordinated withdrawal” of the SANDF soldiers in the absence of a lasting peace agreement.

PA leader Gayton McKenzie, also minister of sport, arts and culture, said SA had been humiliated: “And we must teach people, when you kill a South African, there’s consequences.”

He called for military conscription and for SA to “go and teach M23 a lesson. Let us go and kill those that killed our soldiers”.

“I will be one of the first to join the battalion to go and fight,” he vowed.

Freedom Front Plus Leader Pieter Groenewald, also minister of correctional services, noted that this was not the first time that SA had found itself in such a situation, recalling that in 2013, it had lost 15 soldiers, also in a battle with rebels, outside Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic.

He said there should have been a re-evaluation of what went wrong after that “to ensure that we don’t have a repeat of what happened. And the DRC is nothing else than a repeat of Bangui.”

DA foreign affairs spokesperson Emma Powell said the conflict in eastern DRC was about politics and money.

“M23’s advances are not ideological, they are designed to consolidate control over critical mineral resources and supply lines to Rwanda. The United Nations reported in December that the M23 generated 800,000 US dollars in taxes on mineral trades each month.”

“President Ramaphosa has claimed that, as a country, we have a duty to support the nations that help secure our liberation.

“This is a ruse. South Africa’s soldiers have been sent to die in a war that is not ours in order to safeguard the financial interests of the ANC and their benefactors,” she said. DM