South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi will withdraw troops from conflict-torn eastern Congo

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — African leaders on Thursday announced the withdrawal of thousands of troops from South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi who were sent to quell insurgencies in mineral-rich eastern Congo, where M23 rebels have killed some of the peacekeepers while overrunning the region this year.

Troops from the three countries were sent in 2023 under the banner of the Southern African Development Community, or SADC, but public opposition to the deployment has surged since 14 South African and three Malawian peacekeepers were killed by the rebels in January.

The decision was announced after a virtual meeting of the 16-member bloc, which also includes Congo, and came a day after Angola announced it would host peace talks next week between the Congolese government and the M23 rebels.

No timetable was announced for the pullout of troops, who have numbered up to 3,000, but the SADC said in a statement that it would be a “phased withdrawal.”

South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola told his country’s national broadcaster, SABC, that other belligerents should also now withdraw. “All the forces that are not invited, non-invited parties, in that conflict must also withdraw and be engaged in a process of ceasefire," Lamola said.

Speaking at a meeting in South Africa with European Union leaders in the coastal city of Cape Town, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the decision to withdraw troops was made because a ceasefire process “has now been embraced.”

He expressed confidence in the planned peace talks between Congo and M23 under the mediation of Angolan President João Lourenço, but said there would need to be humanitarian support for the people of eastern Congo and political support for the country to ensure a ceasefire holds.

The SADC mission was part of a myriad of forces operating in the mineral-rich region plagued by decades of armed violence. They include Congolese government soldiers, foreign mercenaries, a United Nations peacekeeping force and more than 100 groups that are fighting for power, land and valuable mineral resources. Others try to defend their communities. Some armed groups have been accused of mass killings targeting ethnic groups.

The M23 rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts, and at times have vowed to march as far as Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, over 1,000 miles away.

Rwanda has rejected charges, including by the Congolese government and U.N experts, that it backs M23 in eastern Congo, a region that is now one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises with more than 7 million people displaced.

The withdrawal of SADC troops comes after the M23 took control of eastern Congo’s main city of Goma and seized the second largest city, Bukavu, in offensives over the past two months.

Fourteen South African soldiers, and at least three from Malawi were killed in January in the fighting. The United Nations later evacuated a group of critically injured South African peacekeepers, although the South African government did not provide figures.

SADC deployed troops to eastern Congo in December 2023 and extended the mandate by another year during a meeting in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, last November.

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the SADC chairman, appealed for “continued support” for the safe withdrawal of the troops and evacuation of equipment, adding that “dialogue is a key cog to usher lasting peace” in Congo.

The U.N. Human Rights Council last month launched a commission that will investigate atrocities, including allegations of rape and killing akin to “summary executions” by both sides.

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Associated Press writer Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa, contributed to this report.