Johannesburg, South Africa – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has held talks with his Rwandan counterpart over the escalating violence in DR Congo, where 13 soldiers from South Africa have been killed in recent unrest.
The South Africa military said Tuesday four more of its soldiers were killed after nine were confirmed dead last week in clashes with the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group in the mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Fighting has raged around the regional capital Goma despite calls from the international community for the M23 to halt its advance on the city, which is home to more than a million people.
Ramaphosa’s office said late Monday he had spoken to Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame about the escalation and the killing of South African troops, who were deployed as part of regional and UN missions.
« The two heads of state have agreed on the urgent need for a ceasefire and the resumption of peace talks by all parties to the conflict, » it said in a social media post.
The Kenyan government has announced that Kagame and Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi will attend a crisis summit on the conflict on Wednesday.
There were conflicting accounts over how much of Goma remained under Congolese control after the M23 group and Rwandan soldiers entered the city centre on Sunday night.
The latest South African casualties saw three soldiers killed in fighting near Goma airport on Monday and another died after being wounded in an earlier battle, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) said in a statement.
« The M23 rebels launched… a mortar bomb in the direction of Goma Airport, which landed in the SANDF base, and this resulted in the SANDF losing three members, » the military said.
« Furthermore, the SANDF is also saddened to announce that one of our members who was injured during the battle with M23 rebels over the past three days later succumbed to injuries. »
The SANDF announced on Saturday that nine South African soldiers, including two from the UN peacekeeping force MONUSCO, were killed in clashes with M23 forces on Friday.
« The SANDF remains fully committed to its peacekeeping responsibilities under the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) and SADC Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (SAMIDRC), » it said on Tuesday.
The defence force said separately its soldiers had agreed a truce to allow the M23 to recover their dead near the base. This followed claims that a video circulating on social media showed a South African soldier raising a white flag to surrender.
« The footage in question depicts a white flag raised, which is an outcome of discussions between the opposing fighting forces to agree on a truce to allow M23 to recover their dead and injured in the vicinity of our base, » the statement said.
« This will also open the route for our troops to access medical facilities. »
The statement added it was « common practice in any war », without specifying how long the truce lasted.
SANDF spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini told the Daily Maverick news site late Monday that the truce lapsed because the M23 negotiators withdrew to consult with their superiors but never returned.
They did not collect their dead and the SANDF wounded in the camp were unable to leave to receive medical treatment, Dlamini was cited as saying.
© Agence France-Presse
