DRC peace mission is essential for SADC stability

On learning that 13, and now 14, South African soldiers have been killed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) peacekeeping mission, the prevailing advice to President Cyril Ramaphosa by all and sundry was to “pull out and go home”.

It did not matter to people if the mission the soldiers went to the DRC on had been achieved or not. People just figured that the loss of life was justification for the country to abandon it.

They forgot that the country went to the DRC as part of a Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) initiative.

Apart from the humiliation SA would have suffered at the hands of a clearly belligerent Rwanda, South Africa would have shown its neighbours that stability in the SADC region is not high on its agenda.

There are very clear operational issues that the president, as commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces, needs to consider.

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Chief among these is the country’s preparedness to face off what is proving to be a welltrained and efficient Rwandan army-backed M23 militia.

It would be irresponsible on an unparalleled level to send out an ill-prepared and ill-equipped army to serve as peacekeepers against an enemy ready to do whatever it takes to achieve its objectives of keeping the DRC destabilised and siphoning off its mineral wealth for Rwanda’s benefit.

The unfortunate loss of life suffered by SA, Malawi and even Uruguay must never be allowed to be used as cheap political pointsscoring against the president.

It must have appeared almost comical to Rwandan President Paul Kagame that instead of the country pulling together after the incident, some in South Africa responded exactly the way he would have intended.

To cower in terror and run for cover far away from the DRC, leaving that country at the mercy of M23.

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It is unacceptable that some of the army’s high command were playing charity golf in suburban Copperleaf as the tragedy unfolded and that as General Bantu Holomisa, among others, has indicated, military planning, or lack thereof, was the primary contributor to the loss of the soldiers’ lives.

This is what the country should be more focused on, rather than escaping its regional responsibilities: ensuring that the SA army’s top brass is focused on the DRC peacekeeping mission and addressing the soldiers’ concerns.

For years, the world has stood by and sympathised with Rwanda because of the 1994 genocide in which up to a million lives were lost, failing to rein in Kagame who used the genocide as cover to freely attack neighbouring DRC to hunt for those he labelled the genocide instigators, whom he alleged have fled to the DRC.

The West and the rest of Africa allowed him the goodwill afforded to genocide survivors as he built Rwanda on the looted mineral wealth of the DRC.

South Africa and the SADC decided a long time ago not to stand by and fold their arms.

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The neglect that has been the order of the day in the army needs to end now.

Heads must roll if necessary for any negligence that may have led to unnecessary deaths in the DRC.

Most importantly though, South Africans must learn that the country does not exist in a vacuum.

A responsibility was thrust upon successive administrations of this country by historical events.

The same way that the world did not stand by and watch injustices in SA’s past, it must be the same way SA fights for justice for others.

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