The leaders of the member countries of the Economic and Development Community of Southern Africa (SADC) are going to meet in a special meeting, studying the future of the SAMIDRC mission of its forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The conference is scheduled to take place on Friday, January 31, 2025, in Zimbabwe.
It is expected that the SADC heads of state will discuss the direction of the SADC's forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they joined that country against the M23 group.
The army entered the Democratic Republic of the Congo in December 2023 to replace the East African Community which had the mission of ending the fighting between the FARDC and M23 government forces and restoring peace in the East of the country.
The meeting is going to take place while a few days ago the M23 forces repeatedly attacked the government and allied groups including FDLR, Wazalendo, SAMDRC, Burundian and European mercenaries, and took Goma City.
Countries that have troops in the DRC through the organization include Tanzania, Malawi and South Africa.
The President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, recently announced that his country has lost 13 soldiers who died in the war in the DRC, and said that they are ready to find a way for the army there to get equipment.
In November 2024, SADC decided to extend its military presence in the DRC for a year. Apart from the South African soldiers who were recently killed in the war, there were also three other Malawians who died.
The SADC special meeting comes after the Special Council of the East African Community EAC, which concluded that the RDC should negotiate with the M23 in order to end the fighting.
The leaders of the EAC countries also indicated that the Economic and Development Community of Southern African Countries (SADC) should discuss with the EAC about the means of transportation in Congo.
They said, "Because SADC has been involved in the events in Eastern DRC, the meeting agreed that there will be a joint meeting between the EAC and SADC to decide on what should be done in the future."
President Ruto has been tasked with planning and communicating with SADC leaders so that a meeting between the two sides can be held in a few days.
