According to the South African National Defense Force (SANDF), the incident occurred when one of its members killed another with his service weapon before fatally shooting himself.

In a press release last week, the SANDF stated that it had convened a board of inquiry to work with the MONUSCO command to clarify the incident and the circumstances leading up to it.

In an unrelated event, two SANDF members were killed, and three others were wounded in a mortar attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in February 2023.

On February 13, 2024, South Africa announced deploying 2,900 SANDF members in the DRC to assist that country’s government in its fight against armed irregular groups.

The deployment was ordered by President Cyril Ramaphosa in fulfillment of South Africa’s international commitment towards the Southern African Development Community (SADC)’s mission in support of Democratic Congo, according to a statement issued by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation on the occasion.

ef/iff/mem/mv