The African Union, by way of its Peace and Security Council, has endorsed a Southern African Development Community decision to deploy troops to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to restore peace and security in the eastern part of the country, overruling protestations from Rwanda.
A communique issued after a March 2024 African Union Peace and Security Council meeting asked the AU Commission to “mobilise requisite support” for SAMIDRC, the regional community’s peacekeeping mission to the DRC. DefenceWeb reported that the first elements of the mission arrived in the eastern DRC in mid-December 2023, with the scheduled movement of part of South Africa’s 2,900-strong contingent put on hold due to a lack of aircraft.
The SAMIDRC force will have 5,000 troops from South Africa, Malawi and Tanzania. SAMIDRC replaces the East African Community Regional Force, whose mandate expired in late 2023.
The DRC is fighting the M23 rebel group, also known as the Congolese Revolutionary Army, that is for the most part made up of ethnic Tutsis. The M23 rebellion of 2012 to 2013 against the DRC government displaced large numbers of people.