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African peacekeepers to be withdrawn from war torn eastern Congo

AFRICAN leaders have announced that thousands of peacekeepers from South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi will be withdrawn from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s war-torn east.

Deployed under the banner of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), the troops were sent to the mineral-rich region in 2023 to quell violence, but public opposition to the deployment has surged since 14 South African and three Malawian peacekeepers were killed by the Rwanda-back M23 militia in January.

The decision was announced on Thursday after a virtual meeting of the 16-member bloc, which took place the day after Angola said that it would host peace talks between the Congolese government and M23 next week.

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