Calls have been mounting in South Africa for the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) members deployed in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to be withdrawn amid the rising number of casualties piling in the central African nation.
In an interview with IOL, national secretary of the SA National Defence Union (SANDU), advocate Pikkie Greeff said while his union does not make demands on operational matters, there are limited options on the table if the SANDF is to be pulled out of the troubled, mineral rich nation.
“We cannot make decisions or make demands over operational issues. The defence force, the command structure and the commander-in-chief (President Cyril Ramaphosa) must make those decisions. Obviously, there is logic that people would call for the soldiers to return home, to get them out of harm’s way and danger, but one must also bear in mind the practical realities.
“We are now between the devil and the blue sea as the saying goes. We are isolated there; we have no capability to go and rescue our members with a quick air extraction. Anything we would attempt now; we do not have the air capability at this stage to lift people out of any place.”
Greeff said in his view, the rational option at this stage is a negotiated exit of the South African troops.
“You tell the rebels that we are going to cease hostilities, we would like to guarantee us passage, we would like to leave. It is very embarrassing, but it seems to be the only option at this stage,” he said.
“A quick extraction, a military extraction – I do not think it is an option at this stage. We simply don’t have the capability to do it cleanly, or to do it quickly.”
IOL reported earlier that Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga is back in South Africa, after her trip to the DRC last week, where she was visiting to assess, among other things, the conditions of the SANDF members deployed on a peacekeeping mission.
IOL reported last week that Motshekga’s trip to the vast nation located in central Africa began on Wednesday and would run until Saturday.
IOL also reported that in a tragic escalation of violence in DRC, nine members of the SANDF were killed, and several other soldiers were injured on Thursday and Friday, while serving in Sake.
The SANDF troops, deployed as part of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC), engaged in days of battle to prevent the rebel group from advancing towards Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu.