South African soldiers who sustained serious injuries in the ongoing conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have been flown home for medical treatment, the country’s military announced on Tuesday.
M23 rebels, backed by Rwanda, have seized large areas of eastern DRC despite military assistance from multiple nations, including South Africa, in support of the Congolese army.
The injured troops were part of a deployment by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a 16-nation regional bloc that sent forces in 2023 to assist Kinshasa in combating instability in the mineral-rich region.
“The group of critically injured soldiers who needed urgent medical attention have been successfully repatriated,” the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) said in a statement.
The military did not specify the number of personnel who had arrived.
Additional wounded soldiers are expected to be brought back “during the course of the week,” SANDF stated.
A complete tally of the injured will be released after all evacuations are completed, SANDF spokesman Siphiwe Dlamini told AFP.
South Africa leads the SADC deployment, which is estimated to include around 1,300 troops, with contributions from Malawi and Tanzania.
Earlier this month, Malawi instructed its forces to begin preparations for withdrawal from the DRC.
Fourteen South African soldiers have been killed in the escalating violence, raising concerns of a broader regional conflict. Most of the fatalities were linked to the SADC mission, while at least two soldiers were part of a separate UN peacekeeping force.
UN experts estimate that M23 is receiving support from approximately 4,000 Rwandan troops.
The rebel group has captured the South Kivu provincial capital, Bukavu, as well as Goma, the largest city in eastern DRC, which has long been plagued by instability.
Since January, more than 7,000 people have lost their lives in the violence, according to DRC Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka, who addressed the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.
She reported that the death toll includes “more than 2,500 bodies buried without being identified,” with an additional 1,500 bodies still in the morgue.
AFP has not independently verified these figures.
