On Tuesday, April 29, members of the SADC mission started to leave the war-torn eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo via Rwanda.
Around 11 a.m., vehicles carrying at least 57 soldiers and civilian trucks loaded with military gear left La Corniche Border Post in Rubavu District on their way to the Rusumo border with Tanzania, according to individuals who spoke to The New Times.
32 South Africans, 16 Malawians, and 9 Tanzanians made up the original group.
The Rwanda Defense Force escorted them.
According to the sources, they will go from Rusumo to Chato in Tanzania.
In North Kivu province, the SADC soldiers had been a part of a coalition of the Congolese government that was battling the AFC/M23 insurgents.
The troops’ departure from the rebel-held province through Rwanda comes after the SADC requested in mid-April that the Rwandan government make it easier for them to leave.
Olivier Nduhungirehe, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, stated on X that “Rwanda is providing safe passage and an escort for convoys of [SADC] troops and equipment withdrawing from eastern DR Congo through Rwanda to Tanzania.”
“The presence of [SADC} troops was always a complicating factor in the conflict, and today’s start of withdrawal marks a positive step in support of the ongoing peace process,” he stated.
Since the AFC/M23 rebels took over Goma, the city of North Kivu, in January, the Congolese government coalition—which includes the murderous militia FDLR, Burundian forces, and Wazalendo groups—has suffered setbacks.
According to findings and information from Goma following the M23 rebels’ takeover of the city, the SADC forces backed Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi’s intention to invade Rwanda, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in February.
In exchange for the rebels letting the SADC mission leave eastern DR Congo with its weapons and equipment, the two parties inked an agreement on March 28 regarding the withdrawal of the South Africa-led SADC soldiers from the country.
With the Congolese government and rebels having met and reached an agreement on a ceasefire in their first direct talks, the SADC forces’ pullout comes as peace efforts are gathering steam.
Following Qatar-mediated peace negotiations that had started in Doha on April 10, the two sides unanimously declared on April 23 that they had made the decision to seek a peaceful settlement to the dispute.
Thanks to US government mediation, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, whose diplomatic ties were negatively impacted by the conflict, struck a significant deal on April 25 to settle the outstanding concerns.
Concern over DR Congo’s cooperation with the FDLR, a UN-sanctioned organization established by the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, has been voiced by Rwanda for many years. Rwanda disputes the DR Congo’s accusation that it is aiding the M23 rebels, stating that it has implemented defensive measures to keep the security threats from becoming a reality.
