In the third part of our ‘Stories from Goma’ series, The New Times looks at a seeming volatile relationship between the M23 Movement and SADC troops in areas under M23 control. The SADC mission, deployed more than a year ago, is comprised of troops from South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi. Their strength is estimated to be above 4000, with more than half of them believed to be from South African National Defence Force (SANDF). ALSO READ: How a coffee table chat inspired a revealing tour of Goma airport ALSO READ: M23 commander who led assault on Goma links FDLR to MONUSCO Troops under the SADC mission, known as SAMIDRC, began to arrive in Goma, the now-M23-controlled capital of North Kivu province in December 2023 with a mandate to support DR Congo army “in fighting armed groups operating in the Eastern DRC’, according to a SADC statement released at the time. The deployment was sanctioned “in accordance with the principle of collective self-defence and collective action outlined in the SADC Mutual Defence Pact”. In particular, SADC leaders cited a provision that reads, “any armed attack perpetrated against one of the States Parties shall be considered a threat to regional peace and security and shall be met with immediate collective action”. But there were two major problems. The M23 is composed of Congolese nationals which, observers say, has legitimate grievances rooted in the persecution of their communities, some of them Kinyarwanda Congolese who they say have been systematically targeted for their heritage links to Rwanda. This is despite eastern Congo being their ancestral home. The other is that, by invoking the SADC clause, it implied a foreign actor had violated the territorial integrity of a SADC member state, and therefore the other members were only fulfilling their mutual support obligation. Their deployment followed DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi’s decision to dismiss the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) after it refused to take sides in the conflict, insisting instead on fulfilling its mandate as a neutral force. M23, which occupied a much smaller territory when EACRF first deployed in November 2022, had withdrawn from 80 per cent of the area it occupied prior to EACRF’s deployment. However, its expulsion and subsequent withdrawal amid attacks on M23 positions by Congolese forces and their allies, including the Wazalendo militia group and the genocidal FDLR group with roots in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, meant the death of EAC’s efforts to find a lasting solution under former Kenyan leader Uhuru Kenyatta. OUT EAC’s peacekeeping force, IN SADC’s offensive combat force. SAMIDRC did not waste time. They arrived with heavy weaponry and immediately swung into action. They deployed in different areas and on multiple axes, including at Goma airport, Mubambiro (in Masisi) and Kibati (in Nyiragongo). Come May 2024, SAMIDRC mounted their first major offensive against M23 – in the hills overlooking Sake and Mubambiro in Masisi territory. In that operation, code-named ‘Caterpillar I’, M23 burnt five SAMIDRC tanks and seized two others, with the South African troops retreating well beyond their base. “They thought we were chasing them, but we weren’t, we only engaged artillery weapons as they fled all way to Mugunga (some 18km from Sake on the way to Goma),” the M23 officer at the rank of Major told us during our visit earlier this week. Of course, this is one version of the story that’s hard to verify, but the same M23 officer would command the battalion that seized Mubambiro barracks when M23 started their rapid advance toward Goma last month. Today, Mubambiro barracks is in the hands of M23, but South African troops and the other SADC contingents remain in their camps at the base, keeping their arms, but with white flags flying from their bases. In the military, the white flag signifies surrender, truce, or a desire to negotiate, meaning that soldiers waving it do not intend to attack and want to communicate peacefully with the opposing side and should not be fired upon. Here, at Mubambiro, just as is the case at Goma airport, SADC troops are confined to their respective camps and only M23 can authorize any movement. “They are required to notify us on anything they want to do, or when they want anything delivered to them,” the M2 commander at Mubambiro told us. They communicate with us in writing, he said. The New Times saw some of the correspondences from SADC troops stationed both at Mubambiro and Goma airport to the respective commanding officers of M23. Each contingent communicates directly with M23 officers, and their memos vary from requests for passage of food and other supplies to passage of private contractors to sewage removals, furnishing M23 commanders with specific details, including start and destination points. “We assist them in best way we can. For instance, the South African team here has been allowed to collect supplies from their main base in Goma, that happened four times, before they decided to engage contractors to do delivery for them,” said the M23 officer. Pressed on whether they had been instances when they turned down requests from the SAMIDRC contingents, he said, “Only on a few occasions, maybe once or twice. In one case, one of the contingents was asking to transfer their colleagues from Goma airport and bring them to Mubambiro, we told them that we could not give that permission, movement of troops can only be permitted by the higher authorities.” He named the contingent in question. “The other,” he said, “is when the South Africans asked to collect their weapons and ammunitions they abandoned outside when they faced us on the day we took this barracks. That one we rejected.” He later showed us the guns and ammunitions in question. They included SPG-9s, RPGs, anti-tank grenades, LG-5 grenades, MG chains, GPS-guided 60mm mortars, and a heap of loaded magazines. However, most of the requests were granted, he said. “We treat them kindly, its not their fault that they are here. We even supply them with water.” One of the letters, titled, ‘Request for passage of contractors’, and dated February 2025, from Lt Col M Sello, Second in Command of the South African SAMIDRC contingent, reads, “The RSACONT hereby requests the safe passage of Bread and Bakery delivery on daily basis from Goma to Sake from the Ble D’Or supplier.” He went on to name the driver, adding, “For your immediate attention and kind response.” At Mubambiro, the letters whose copies The New Times has seen, are addressed to ‘Col Augustine (M23 Military).’ One of them, dated January 30, 2025, requested clearance for a team of 15 soldiers to search for bodies of fallen colleagues at Mubambiro. Apology from SADC contingent It is the same protocol for SAMIDRC contingents at Goma airport. However, the relationship between M23 and the SADC troops here appears to be more tense than in Mubambiro. “Some of them have tried to do things without our knowledge but we’ve made clear that’s unacceptable,” an M23 Major who commanded the force that seized Goma airport after fierce fighting on February 28, told The New Times on Monday. Once such a case involves an incident in which the driver of a UN vehicle that was delivering supplies to the South African base on February 7 “behaved badly”. Later, the South African contingent sent an apology letter. It reads in part, “Today we received a phone call from QRF 2IC (Quick Reaction Force Second in Command) informing us that the driver of the UN vehicle which delivered rations behaved badly towards the members of M23 when he was stopped from entering the gate of the Airport where he almost injured the soldiers of M23.” The letter, dated February 8, 2024, added, “We were not aware of that incident, we therefore sincerely apologise for the behaviour of the driver. We will inform the driver that when he is given an instruction, he must execute the orders.” The author of the letter, Lt Col A. Phamodi, from SAMIDRC Joint Task Force, added, “I acknowledge that all movements will be coordinated through QRF 2IC as directed and I apologise for unfortunate movement which occurred yesterday without your knowledge.” The M23 commander partly blamed the UN peacekeeping force at the airport for facilitating such “unacceptable acts.” White-flag incident As we interacted with the M23 Major at his airport base, a soldier informed him that one of the SADC contingents had lowered their white flags. Visibly taken aback, he replied, “Is it? That’s fine, I will go forth and ask them if they are ready to fight tomorrow morning.” Indeed, as we left his base to start our tour of the airport, the officer made a quick stop at the SADC contingent in question and called over one of the uniformed guards at the entrance. “We askari, njoo hapa,” he said in Swahili, meaning ‘soldier, come here’. The soldier came over, making a clenched hand salute. “I can see you’ve removed the white flags, please go ask your boss that ‘are you ready to fight tomorrow early morning,’” he told him. To which the soldier answered, “yes, sir.” About 30 minutes later, as he showed us the various weapons and other equipment abandoned by the government forces and their allies, the M23 commander received a call from someone who told him the white flags were flying high again. I asked him what he made of the situation. “It is simple, SADC troops are not welcome here, this is our territory. They should be helped to return home safely; these are soldiers who should be in their countries carrying out their constitutional duty. They are in the wrong place; this conflict is between Congolese, I don’t see why any foreigner should get involved.” At least 14 bodies and injured soldiers serving under SAMIDRC were repatriated Friday last week, but there is uncertainty on the way forward regarding those still in M23-held territory. Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera earlier this month signed an order instructing his country’s troops to start preparations to withdraw from DR Congo. However, it’s not clear if there has been any progress in that direction. There has also been reports that South Africa was considering sending more troops to DR Congo, against the spirit and thinking behind the resolutions of the joint EAC-SADC summit held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania earlier this month, which called for peace talks between Kinshasa and M23.
