APA-Pretoria (South Africa) Two South African peacekeepers have been killed and three others wounded when rebels shelled their military base in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the South African Defence Force (SANDF) has confirmed.
The wounded soldiers have been hospitalised, the SADF said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised the deployment of 2,900 SANDF members as part of the country’s fulfilment of its international obligation to the Southern African Development Community Mission (SADCMI).
The troops were deployed under the SADCMI to support the DRC in its war with the M23 rebels.
The mission replaced a UN peacekeeping mission which had been deployed in the eastern DRC for two decades.
The DRC is a member of the 16-nation SADC grouping.
Briefing journalists on Thursday, opposition Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema called on the government to withdraw the country’s troops from the DRC who are in the new peacekeeping mission.
Malema said his country’s fighters should be “withdrawn with immediate effect” because their mission was “out of order” until the soldiers were “fit and properly” trained.
NM/jn/APA