Africa at a glance: South Africa sends troops to the DRC

Two days ago President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the deployment of 2,900 soldiers to the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as part of the Southern African Democratic Community (SADC) mission. The United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission which has been fighting in Congo will withdraw from the DRC by the end of the year. The UN Organisation Mission in the DRC (Monusco) has been in the eastern part of that country battling the M23 and other rebel groups for many years. The troops are part of a regional force helping DR Congo's military as it confronts a series of armed groups. South Africa began deploying troops to eastern DR Congo in December under the banner of the 16-member regional bloc, the Southern African Development Community (Sadc). They are taking over from the Kenyan-led East African Force (EAF), which left in December - about a year after it was welcomed by President Félix Tshisekedi. What reason has been given for the deployment? Can the Sadc force succeed? What is the strength of the Sadc force? Why have military interventions failed to reign in the rebels? Could the SADC intervention go differently? So many questions and help is answering some of these questions were joined by Willem Else, Senior Training Coordinator and Researcher at Institute of Security Studies.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.