SA does not seek to create further tension with Rwanda over the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) before an emergency meeting between leaders of Southern and Eastern Africa on the matter, says defence minister Angie Motshekga.
SA and Rwanda have been involved in intense disagreement over the DRC conflict in which 14 SA soldiers have died. SA has pointed fingers at the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group for the casualties and the surge in fighting in the region.
The diplomatic fallout between Pretoria and Kigali has further strained relations between the two countries with fears that the conflict in the DRC could spread into a wider regional conflict.
The regional blocs of Southern and Eastern Africa are set to hold an emergency two-day meeting beginning on Friday over the matter.
“The propaganda drive of Rwanda has been on high-speed,” Motshekga told a joint meeting of parliament’s portfolio committee on defence and military veterans and standing committee on defence. She said that SA did “not want to create further tension” and would continue diplomatic engagement on the conflict.
“We can’t end the conflict by the barrel of the gun. We need a negotiated settlement. Diplomacy is the agreed process if we want peace in the DRC,” Motshekga said.
Members of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) are deployed in the mineral-rich region as part of a Sadc Mission in Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIDRC) and UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Monusco).
Southern African Development Community (Sadc) heads of state have accused Rwanda of direct involvement in the conflict in which members of the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF) allegedly attacked members of the SAMIDRC and the civilian population in various areas of North Kivu.
The UN classifies M23 as armed rebels while Kinshasa designates it as a terrorist group.
Though fighting in the mineral-rich area has subsided since the death of the SA troops, according to SANDF chief Gen Rudzani Maphwanya, guns may be raised again in Goma “because war is a fluid and dynamic matter”.
He said the bodies of the 14 soldiers who died in the DRC in January and the bodies of 14 soldiers killed in clashes with the rebels in Goma, eastern DRC, would be repatriated on Wednesday.
Business Day understands that SA is considering either Burundi or Uganda, Rwanda’s neighbours, as a passage to repatriate the bodies.
Maphwanya denied allegations by MPs that the SA troops were underresourced and were overtaken by the M23 rebels, leading to the casualties. He said that they later determined the SA soldiers were not being specifically targeted but were caught in the crossfire between DRC soldiers and Rwandan forces.
“For every mission before any deployment ... there is ... combat readiness training,” Maphwanya said, adding that for this mission the soldiers had received mission readiness training tailor-made for the DRC.
M23 on Monday announced that it would implement a unilateral ceasefire starting on Tuesday. The group, which has overtaken the city of Goma, close to where SA troops are stationed, said the ceasefire would be to allow a humanitarian corridor.
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