DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi and his counterparts from South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, and Burundi, Evariste Ndayishimiye, held a tripartite meeting on the deployment of Southern African Development Community (SADC) troops in eastern DRC, Tshisekedi said.
The president added that Burundi will coordinate with South Africa on the ground operations against M23 rebels.
"On this subject, the three Heads of State discussed the best coordination of operations on the ground. South Africa and Burundi are among the troop-contributing countries of the SAMIDRC [The SADC Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo]," the statement said.
Last week, Pretoria announced a decision to send almost 3,000 soldiers to the east of the DRC as part of the SADC mission.
In addition, Angolan Foreign Minister Tete Antoni announced on February 15 that among the bloc's members, South Africa, Malawi, and Tanzania have begun sending troops to the DRC. SADC, based in Gaborone, Botswana, is an intergovernmental organization with 16 member states.
The SADC contingent replaces the East African Community force deployed last November.
In late November 2023, East African Community leaders said the DRC had decided not to renew the mandate of the EAC regional force after it expires on December 8.
The DRC government has previously criticized East African bloc forces for failing to address security concerns in the east of the country.
Security in the eastern part of the country has been a serious problem for the DRC in recent years due to a large-scale armed anti-government campaign by the March 23 Movement (M23) rebels.