Southern Africa bloc to begin phased withdrawal of troops from DRC

The Southern African Development Community or SADC said Thursday that a summit of regional heads of state had terminated the mandate of its troop deployment in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo and decided on a "phased withdrawal." SADC lost more than a dozen soldiers in conflict in January. The 16-nation bloc took the decision at a virtual summit on the conflict in the area that has seen some three decades of unrest and claimed millions of lives. "Summit terminated the Mandate of SAMIDRC and directed the commencement of a phased withdrawal of SAMIDRC troops from the DRC," the Southern African bloc said in a communique after the summit. The SADC Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, SAMIDRC, — made up of soldiers from Malawi, Tanzania and South Africa — was sent to the region in December 2023 to help the government of the DRC, also a SADC member, restore peace and security. SADC extended its mandate late last year.