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Reuters reports that according to political and diplomatic sources, SA has sent additional troops and military equipment to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in recent days after 14 of its soldiers were killed in fighting with Rwanda-backed rebels last month.
The reinforcement comes amid fears that fighting in eastern DRC could spark a broader war. Flight data showed transport aircraft flying from SA to Lubumbashi in southern DRC and an airport employee there confirmed that military planes had landed last week. "We have been informed of a (SA National Defence Force) troop build-up in the area of Lubumbashi. We gather that about 700 to 800 soldiers had been flown to Lubumbashi," Chris Hattingh, defence spokesperson for the DA, wrote in a text message to Reuters. Hattingh said it was "difficult to figure out what is unfolding" because parliament's defence committee had not been briefed. A SANDF spokesperson said on Friday he was not aware of the deployment to Lubumbashi and declined to comment further on Monday. SA is believed to have around 3,000 troops deployed in the DRC, both as part of a UN peacekeeping mission and a Southern African regional force tasked with helping the DRC's army combat the M23 insurgency. Its intervention has drawn heavy criticism at home after the fall of Goma left SANDF soldiers surrounded and with no clear exit strategy. "They're extremely poorly resourced and equipped," said Kobus Marais, who served as the DA's shadow defence minister before the party entered the governing coalition last year.
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