SA govt not considering withdrawing troops from volatile DRC

PRETORIA - The South African government says it is not currently considering withdrawing its soldiers from the volatile Democratic Republic of Congo. 
 
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has been deployed to the DRC city of Goma on a peacekeeping mission sanctioned by the United Nations.
 
The war between the DRC government and militia group, M23, has already claimed the lives of 13 South African soldiers.

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This matter was at the forefront of Wednesday's Cabinet lekgotla in Pretoria.
 
The death toll on South Africa's side has led to calls from political parties and organisations to withdraw the troops from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
 
However, government said while the losses were regrettable, the mission was not complete.
 
International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola said that South Africa was not there alone but part of a mission that included the UN, African Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
 
"It is so because it's not a bilateral agreement between SA and the DRC that we can just unilaterally, as SA, decide that we are withdrawing. It must be taken at that multilateral level."
 
Lamola said that the peacekeeping mission in Goma had not reported any attacks on it over the past 48 hours due to a negotiated temporary ceasefire agreement.