The African National Congress, South Africa's ruling party, supports the government's peacekeeping efforts in conflict-ridden African countries, said Naledi Pandor, speaking as a member of the ANC's national executive committee.
"The ANC fully supports our government’s efforts to try and silence the guns on the African continent," Pandor, who is also South African International Relations Minister, said. "South Africa played a key role in bringing about the Ethiopia-Tigray Peace Agreement, commonly known as the Pretoria Agreement."
She highlighted the country’s active involvement in addressing conflicts in several war-torn African countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, and South Sudan.
As for the DRC, the minister supported President Cyril Ramaphosa's decision to deploy hundreds of South African troops to the conflict in the east of the country.
"It would have been extremely wrong of President Ramaphosa, in a SADC meeting, to say to the other SADC members: 'You can have a SADC mission to DRC but South Africa the largest economy, largest military force won’t be part of it.’ It just couldn’t happen," Pandor remarked.
In February, 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 in February that, among the bloc's members, South Africa, Malawi, and Tanzania have begun sending troops to the DRC.
The 16-member SADC approved the mission to the eastern DR Congo in May last year.
The SADC contingent in the DR Congo 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 criticized East African bloc forces for failing to address security concerns in the east of the country.