M23 rebels welcome SANDF departure from Monusco

The M23 rebels have said they support the withdrawal of the South African National Defence Force from the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Monusco) which they accused of failing people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). “The withdrawal [of SANDF] is a welcome move on our part. Monusco has failed the people of DRC, especially us in the east.

With South Africa gone, it further allows us to work towards maintaining peace in our positions,” M23 president Bertrand Bisimwa told theMail & Guardianin Goma, saying SANDF had done the noble thing by walking away. M23 has seized major regional hubs, mainly Goma and Bukavu. The earlier withdrawal of the South African-led Southern African Development Community Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC) in May last year, following heavy combat losses against the rebels, emboldened them.

“We allowed SAMIDRC to leave because they were not meant to be there in the first place. We have no problems with South Africa,” Bisimwa said. “We even sent a contingent to attend former presidentThabo Mbeki’s peace summitin South Africa last year.

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They can play a role in peace dialogue initiatives, not armed conflict.” Bisimwa acknowledged that in 2013, the rebels had been driven out by the South Africa-led United Nations Force Intervention Brigade, a specialised military component of Monusco. But more than 13 years later, the mission had turned out to be disastrous, he said. “We went into exile during our first encounter with them.

But more than 13 years later, the situation in the region has deteriorated. When Monusco came in, there were about 23-armed groups in the eastern DRC. Now we have more than 350 of those,” he said.

“This clearly means Monusco has failed. So why would South Africa remain as part of a failed mission?” South Africa’s departure from Monusco would give it time to “look inward in its security mandate”, he said, noting that back home, “there’s talk of how badly capacitated their army was”. SANDF had at least 700 personnel on the mission.

Bisimwa accused Monusco of working with rebel groups such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) that left Rwanda after the 1994 genocide. FDLR has a working relationship with the Congolese national army. He said the fact that Monusco also worked with the DRC army and FDLR had contributed to strained relations between South Africa and Rwanda, which is accused of supporting the M23 rebels. Addressing delegates last Friday at the Rwandan National Dialogue Council, President Paul Kagame accused South Africa of “pretending to be a peacemaker” and refuted claims that President Cyril Ramaphosa had warned him about the killing of SANDF soldiers in eastern DRC.

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