The Southern African Development Community (SADC) troops will leave eastern DR Congo by the end of May after two years stationed in the mineral-rich, war-torn region. Their withdrawal raises critical questions about whether the SADC accomplished its mission in the DRC, or if they are abandoning the Congolese after failing to defeat the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels.
00:00The second contingent of Southern African Development Community,
00:03SADIC Troops, is packing up and leaving the eastern DR Congo.
00:20After two years in the mineral-rich, war-torn region,
00:24SADIC's mission will come to a wrap-up by the end of May.
00:27But here's a question. Are they leaving because they accomplished their mission
00:31or abandoning the Congolese due to a failed mission?
00:35Welcome to the flip side.
00:40The M23 rebel group is capturing city after city.
00:45Goma, Bukavu, Rubaya, and even Lunya Senge.
00:49These cities were supposed to be protected.
00:52So did the SADIC troops make a difference?
00:57The SADIC took place in the Congolese.
01:01They told us that they were rebels that they were going to come to a war.
01:07They were going to come to a war.
01:09They were going to come to a war.
01:11They were going to come to a war.
01:12Different from other forces that the population had qualified as tourists in RDC,
01:20the SADC was determined determined and it was valuable by the population.
01:30We thought that the SADC could play a crucial role in this region,
01:38but unfortunately, we were surprised by the population of RDC,
01:43and it was really a failure for Africa, for the two parts of the SADC forces.
01:48The SADC forces had to inform the security of the SADC forces.
02:01What exactly went wrong with the SADC deployment?
02:04I think SADC deployed too quickly, too fast.
02:08The force was poorly funded. They were not well equipped.
02:11And then, you know, the M23 got reinforcements from the Rwanda Defense Forces,
02:16which made it very hard for the SADC forces to kind of resist.
02:20And they had a lot of casualties.
02:23This isn't the first time SADC has pulled out of an unfinished mission.
02:27Mozambique was left hanging too, even though it was battling an Islamist insurgency.
02:32The reason? Financial limitations.
02:35But they still went into the DR Congo after a plea from President Felix Shisekedi.
02:40At that time, the Rwandan-backed M23 was threatening to take over GOMA.
02:45Fast forward to now, the rebels are advancing.
02:48The humanitarian crisis is worsening and SADC is pulling out.
02:52Where does this leave the conflict in Eastern DRC?
02:55So there are too many actors who are benefiting economically from the chaos.
03:01Fighting is still ongoing and even if fighting stops, there's no guarantee that it won't resume again unless these issues are resolved.
03:07The US is the latest external player to seek an end to the fighting.
03:11But is Trump's administration eyeing a chance to broker peace or gain access to the DRC's rare earth minerals?
03:19The US government sees that the conflict in the Eastern DRC might actually provide them with an opportunity to broker a peace deal.
03:28But the US does that to have in return access to the minerals of the DRC and Rwanda.
03:38There is no harmony in all the parties that are trying to resolve a conflict, trying to mediate.
03:42They're not harmonizing their efforts and that's part of the problem.
03:45So, if external mediation has not borne fruit, could local solutions hold the key to ending the violence?
03:52There's also an internal process led by the churches, the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church, who are trying to, not necessarily to drive a peace process, but at least to create the conditions for internal dialogue, so that opposing sides come together and negotiate a difference.
