APA-Pretoria (South Africa) The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has named Simon Bobe and Irven Semono as the two soldiers killed when rebels shelled their military camp in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) last week.
SANDF spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini said on Sunday that the two were killed in a mortar attack on a base in North Kivu on February 14.
Three other soldiers were wounded in the shelling and are recovering at a hospital in the eastern city of Goma.
Dlamini said details about the memorial and funeral services for the late soldiers would be communicated in due course.
South Africa has deployed 2,900 soldiers to the DRC to support the Congolese army’s war against the M23 rebels who are suspected to have thrown the mortar shell that killed and wounded the soldiers.
The soldiers are deployed under the Southern African Development Community Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIDRC) that is replacing the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) which is withdrawing after 25 years of deployment in eastern DRC.
MONUSCO’s withdrawal came after the DRC government of President Felix Tshisekedi asked the UN peacekeepers to leave the country for failing to end the conflict.
NM/jn/APA