AFRICAN leaders have announced that thousands of peacekeepers from South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi will be withdrawn from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s war-torn east.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