Zuko Komisa

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) announced on Saturday that nine South African peacekeepers were killed in confrontations with M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Two of the deceased were from the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping force MONUSCO and seven were members of the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) regional force.
“After two days of fierce fighting with the M23 rebel group in the eastern DRC, the South African contingent and its counterparts were able to halt the advancement of the rebel group towards Goma, the provincial capital of the eastern DRC.
“The M23 hostile forces had launched a full-scale attack on our troops with the intention of taking over Goma but were unable to advance due to the heroic resistance put up by our gallant fighters.
“Our forces were not only able to halt the M23 advancement but were able to push them back. The intention of the M23, amongst others, is also to take over the city of Goma, but it met with heavy resistance from the SANDF contingent, which managed to prevent them from proceeding into Goma,” said the SANDF in a statement.
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