City Press reports that there are at least 189 wounded and sick South African soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), of whom at least five are seriously injured and two are pregnant.

The soldiers were wounded last month in bloody battles with the M23 rebels before the group took control of the town of Goma in the eastern DRC. At least 14 South African soldiers died in the battles at Sake and Goma. On Friday morning, the soldiers concerned were told to pack up as they were supposed to leave on Saturday. However, that evening they were told that the plan to evacuate them had failed. The air ambulance to transport the five most critically injured was ready to fly from Kigali in Rwanda to the Waterkloof Air Force Base on Friday. The rest of the wounded and sick soldiers were to follow the same route on an aircraft from the Botswana Air Force. The repatriation plans resulted from almost two weeks of intense negotiations between the M23, the UN mission in the DRC (Monusco) and representatives of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) mission there (SamiDRC). During the finalisation of the plans, confusion arose over the landing rights for the aircraft, among other things. Most of the 189 wounded and sick are women soldiers who were part of the SamiDRC contingent at the Sake camp, which has since been restricted and guarded by the M23. Several members of the group urgently need trauma counselling. Apart from the psychological effects of the battles, for almost three weeks the soldiers have been confined in poor conditions, without much access to clean water and food, contributing to their ill health.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Erika Gibson at City Press

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