South Africa to deploy 2 900 troops to the DRC 

Lerato Mbhiza

South Africa is to deploy at least 2 900 South African National Defence Force members  to assist in the fight against illegal armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). 

President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered the deployment in line with fulfilling South Africa’s international obligation towards the Southern African Development Community (SADC) mission to support the DRC. 

The deployment comes as the DRC battles Tutsi-led M23 rebels whose attacks and advances in recent days threaten the North Kivu provincial capital, Goma. 

According to media reports, the decades of conflicts in eastern Congo between myriad rival armed groups over land and resources has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and displaced more than seven million.

This comes as the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission will withdraw from the DRC by the end of this year. 

The withdrawal of Monusco comes after  the UN Security