SADC ‘firmly refutes allegations’ it engaged in joint FARDC-FDLR military operations in Goma against M23

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has contested claims by the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) rebellion that its forces in DR Congo conducted “a series of joint military operations” in coordination with the Congolese armed forces (FARDC), the genocidal militia FDLR, and Congolese ethnic militias called Wazalendo in and around Goma, the rebel-held capital of North Kivu Province, on April 11. ALSO READ: M23 asks SADC forces to withdraw after clashes in Goma This comes a day after the AFC/M23 rebellion condemned “a series of joint military operations” carried out by SADC forces in coordination with the Congolese armed forces (FARDC), FDLR, and Wazalendo in and around Goma on the night of Friday, April 11. The clashes in Goma between the AFC/M23 and the government coalition occurred around 10pm on Friday in Lac Vert and Keshero neighbourhoods, and they were the first since the rebels took control of the strategic city. FDLR, a UN-sanctioned group founded in 2000 by remnants of the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, poses an existential threat to the Congolese Tutsi community. ALSO READ: DR Congo crisis: North Kivu governor calms Goma residents after night gunfire In a statement released Saturday, April 12, the AFC/M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka criticised the April 11 attacks, saying they “threaten the stability and safety of civilians.” “These attacks violate the existing SADC agreements and consequently delay the rehabilitation of Goma airport,” Kanyuka said, noting that the attacks compel the rebels “to demand the immediate withdrawal of [SADC] forces and constrain us to demand the immediate surrender of FARDC troops stationed within MONUSCO facilities to our organization.” In a statement released on April 14, the SADC Secretariat clarified that its Mission in DR Congo (SAMIDRC) “has not participated in any joint operations as claimed,” describing the rebels’ accusations as “inaccurate and misleading.” https://x.com/SADC_News/status/1911744544003006948 The statement reaffirmed that SAMIDRC is currently undertaking “a structured and coordinated withdrawal” from DR Congo in line with a directive from the SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government. The rebels and the SADC mission on March 28 signed an agreement on the withdrawal of the Southern African forces from DR Congo. “SADC firmly refutes these allegations. SAMIDRC has not participated in any joint operations, as claimed. These assertions are both inaccurate and misleading,” the statement read. The AFC/M23 rebellion has vowed to uproot tribalism, nepotism, corruption, and the genocide ideology spread by the DR Congo-backed Rwandan genocidal militia, FDLR, among other vices, widespread in DR Congo.