Peacekeeper Deaths in DRC Lead Some to Say SADC is Outmanned and Outgunned

ADF STAFF

A deadly attack by M23 rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo that killed two South African Soldiers is raising questions about whether the Southern African Development Community peacekeeping force (SAMIDRC) should continue.

Ten members of the peacekeeping mission have died since the group entered the eastern DRC in February to replace troops from the East African Community. Six of the dead were South African National Defence Force (SANDF) troops.

More than 30 South African Soldiers have been injured in the fighting, some critically. M23 captured two SANDF vehicles in June.

South Africa has committed 2,900 Soldiers to the DRC, making up the majority of the 5,000-member SADC mission that also includes Soldiers from Malawi and Tanzania.

The mission is about one-third the size of the United Nation’s Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) peacekeeping mission, which ends in December. South Africa also contributes troops to the DRC mission.

Despite the presence of international troops and the DRC’s own military, M23 has seized a series of North Kivu communities in recent weeks, including Kanyabayonga, which is home to more than 60,000 people.

M23 fighters are using military-grade weapons that are far superior to those most militias employ, including GPS-guided mortars, sophisticated assault rifles and surface-to-air missiles. Observers say the Rwandan Army is giving training and tactical support to the M23.

In February, a U.N. surveillance drone spotted a Rwandan armored personnel carrier about 19 kilometers inside the DRC in North Kivu province. Rwandan soldiers destroyed the drone with a surface-to-air missile, according to military analysts.

U.N. investigators say Rwanda has flooded battlefields with fixed-wing drones, drone jammers and heavy weaponry such as Russian SPG-9 antitank grenade launchers.

“The M23 at present is more powerful than it has ever been, so Rwanda is clearly flexing its muscles to its maximum degree,” Crisis Group analyst Richard Moncrieff told Bloomberg for an April report.

Critics say the South African mission has been undersized, underequipped and underfunded from the beginning and is no match for the heavily armed M23.

“How can anyone expect 5,000 or fewer troops to achieve what the roughly 15,000 that MONUSCO could not?” defense expert Helmoed-Römer Heitman told The Citizen at the outset of the mission in February.

Heitman estimated that the South African mission would need as many as 20,000 Soldiers with air support to be effective. However, the mission lacks the kind of air support needed to function in a region with dense tree cover, according to analysts. South Africa’s Denel Rooivalk attack helicopters remain grounded because of cuts to their maintenance budget.

“In order to get them into theater, they need to be substantially upgraded and repaired,” analyst Dean Wingrin recently told Newzroom Afrika.

South Africa has just a handful of airworthy Oryx support helicopters, some of which have been damaged by fire from the ground.

“Anyone who knows something about combat knows that air support is very important, especially if you’re dealing with someone who hides in the jungle,” Pikkie Greeff, advocate for the South African National Defence Union, told SABC News earlier this year.

The recent deaths of SAMIDRC Soldiers could be expected given the mission’s lack of resources, according to South African defense analyst Kobus Marais.

“It is now a regular occurrence that our soldiers are returned to their loved ones in body bags,” Marais told The Star. “The question remains as to the actual reasons our defense force is still deployed in the DRC.”