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JOHANNESBURG: South African troops withdrawing from the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have begun assembling in Tanzania and most should return home this month, the defense chief said on Sunday.

Under the phased withdrawal that started on April 29, the troops are to exit the DRC via Rwanda by road before entering Tanzania, Gen. Rudzani Maphwanya said.

From there they will return to South Africa by sea and air by the end of May, he said.

The soldiers are part of a regional Southern African Development Community force that deployed to the eastern DRC in December 2023 during a resurgence of the M23 armed movement.

The M23 now controls swaths of territory in the mineral-rich region.

Thirteen trucks with 57 members of the SADC peacekeeping force had already gathered at an assembly point in Tanzania, Maphwanya told reporters.

The next group was scheduled for withdrawal next week, he said.

“The movement from Tanzania to (South Africa) will be by air for personnel and by sea for cargo,” he said.

SADC decided to end its SAMIDRC mission in mid-March after 17 of its soldiers — most of them South Africans — were killed in M23 offensives in January. They have been stranded there since.

The grouping confirmed last week the start of the withdrawal but gave no details.

On April 30, a separate evacuation began of hundreds of DRC soldiers and police trapped for months in United Nations bases in Goma after the eastern DRC city was taken by M23 rebels, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

SADC defense chiefs had informed the M23 they would “withdraw ... personnel and equipment unconditionally,” Maphwanya said.

No SADC equipment would remain. “SADC is not leaving even a pin in eastern DRC,” he added.

Officials do not comment on the size of the SAMIDRC deployment but the bulk of the troops come from South Africa, which is estimated to have sent at least 1,300 soldiers.

There are also South Africans in the DRC under a separate UN peacekeeping mission.

Calls for evacuation began mounting in South Africa after 14 of the country’s soldiers were killed in the region in January.

Three Malawian troops in the SADC deployment were also killed, while Tanzania said two of its soldiers died in clashes.

The evacuation from the DRC was not a sign of weakness or the abandonment of people caught up in the fighting, Maphwanya said.

“Our withdrawal is a technical move that allows peace and mediation to continue.”

VALLETTA: Malta offered on Sunday to repair an aid ship and send it on its way to Gaza after pro-Palestinian activists said the vessel had been hit by a drone strike.
But Prime Minister Robert Abela said the Freedom Flotilla Coalition must first allow a maritime surveyor on board to inspect the “Conscience” and determine what repairs are needed.
The pro-Palestinian activists had pointed the finger at Israel, which has blockaded the Gaza Strip throughout its military campaign against Hamas, for the attack.
If the ship can be fixed at sea, it will be, but otherwise it will be towed under Maltese control to the Mediterranean island for repairs, paid for by Malta.
“In the last few hours there was insistence that first the boat comes into Maltese waters and then the surveyor is allowed onboard,” Abela said.
“Before a vessel — any vessel — is allowed to enter Maltese waters then control must be in the hands of Maltese authorities, especially when we are talking about a vessel with no flag, no insurance.”
In an online press conference, members of the coalition who had been due to board the Conscience in Malta — including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg — said they had agreed to allow the inspection.
“When we received this offer from the Maltese government, we consulted with all of our Flotilla Coalition committee members who are on board,” said Brazilian FFC volunteer Thiago Avila.
“And their decision is that this is a good proposition from the Maltese government,” he said.
“As long as they can guarantee ... Conscience will not be stopped when it wants to leave on the humanitarian mission to take aid to Gaza.”
The activists explained the Conscience has no flag because the government of the Pacific nation of Palau had announced that they were withdrawing their registration on Friday, the day of the alleged strike.
Otherwise, they insisted they had made every effort to comply with international maritime law when embarking on the mission to take aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
According to the Flotilla Coalition, the Conscience was attacked in international waters as it headed for Malta on Friday, causing a fire that disabled the vessel and minor injuries to crew members.
Maltese and Cypriot rescuers responded. No government has confirmed the Conscience was the victim of drones, but Cyprus’s rescue agency said it had been informed by the island’s foreign ministry of an Israeli strike.
The Israeli military did not provide an immediate response when contacted by AFP.
First reported by CNN, a flight tracking service showed that an Israeli C-130 military cargo plane had been in the area immediately before the incident and had made several low altitude sweeps over the area.
Israel is known for conducting covert operations beyond its borders, including several during the Gaza war that it only acknowledged later.
The activists said the strike appeared to target the boat’s generator.
Thunberg told reporters that the incident should not distract from the focus of the boat’s mission to Gaza.
“What we are doing here is to try our very best to use all the means that we have to do our part, to keep trying to break the inhumane and illegal siege on Gaza and to open up humanitarian corridors,” she said.