South African soldiers deployed to the Democratic Republic of Congo remain unable to be extracted from the country, as Rwandan-backed M23 rebels retain control of Goma, whose airport has served as the main port of entry.
Returning to South Africa now seems to be impossible by air, and may have to proceed by land.
The troops, who had been in the DRC as part of the now-terminated Southern African Development Community Mission in the DRC, have been under the effective custody of M23. This has been a disaster for the South African military.
Returning by land would mean traversing Rwanda or Tanzania. For this to happen, military equipment would need to be surrendered or would be confiscated.
A source familiar with the matter told IOL: “The Rwandan government will confiscate billions in military equipment if we accept this deal. However, given the embarrassment the South African government faced following the deaths of our soldiers, this is not a viable option at the moment. We are open to moving our forces through Rwanda, but the commanders are refusing; worse, they seem to lack a clear plan.”
[Image: By Al Jazeera English – Flickr: M23 troops Bunagana 4, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23855937]