Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera has ordered defence forces to begin preparations for a withdrawal of its troops from eastern DR Congo, a statement said on Wednesday, February 5. ALSO READ: Protestors in Goma want Burundi, SADC forces out Malawi's troops are part of a contingent of soldiers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional bloc deployed in DR Congo to help it tackle armed insurgents. President Chakwera's announcement comes barely two days before East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders meet in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to discuss the way forward on the DR Congo conflict. The two blocs have, in the past two years, gone separate ways in their approach to the DR Congo conflict. President Chakwera has ordered the MDF (Malawi Defence Force) commander to begin preparations for the withdrawal of Malawian troops... to honour the declaration of a ceasefire by the warring parties there and to pave the way for their planned negotiations towards a lasting peace, the statement said. ALSO READ: Thabo Mbeki: Implementing Sun City Agreement, disarming FDLR only way to solve DR Congo crisis There has been heightened regional tensions after M23 rebels captured Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, on January 27. Kinshasa has accused Rwanda of supporting AFC/M23 rebels, an allegation Rwanda has repeatedly denied. Rwanda, in turn, accuses DR Congo of harbouring, arming, and training the genocidal FDLR militia to destabilize Rwandan security and overthrow its government, as Congolese president Felix Tshisekedi has publicly declared. The AFC/M23 alliance on Wednesday called out the United Nations, alongside the Congolese regime to stop engaging in the “shameful controversy” surrounding the deaths of civilians in Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province, which the rebels captured last week. ALSO READ: Corneille Nangaa on M23 capture of Goma, FDLR and march to Kinshasa The rebel alliance captured Goma a few days after surrounding and getting the better of the massive Congolese army (FARDC) coalition of the genocidal FDLR militia from Rwanda, more than 10,000 Burundian forces, 1,600 European mercenaries, and South Africa-led SADC forces. The war between a Congolese government army coalition and the M23 rebels started in 2021. Close to 300 mercenaries who survived the rebels’ advance on Goma surrendered and were given safe passage, through Rwanda, to return home. ALSO READ: Who are the AFC/M23 rebels, why are they fighting? On Wednesday, the rebels seized control of the town of Nyabibwe in DR Congo's South Kivu province, a day after a unilateral ceasefire they declared could not be respected by the warring parties. ALSO READ: M23 rebels declare unilateral ceasefire The capture of Nyabibwe, some 70 kilometers north of the provincial capital, Bukavu, takes them a step closer to the city. Eastern DR Congo has been volatile for nearly 30 years. The provinces of South Kivu, North Kivu and Ituri are home to more than 260 armed groups including FDLR, a UN-sanctioned militia that is part of the Congolese government coalition, that are accused of atrocities and human rights violations. FDLR was founded in 2000 by remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. It is a major cause of the insecurity in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces where its genocide ideology is an existential threat to Congolese Tutsi commumities.
