SOUTHERN African leaders have announced they will pull their troops out of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where they have been helping the government fight rebel forces.
The troops were sent two years ago to support the Congolese army fight the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels, which have seized control of large parts of mineral-rich eastern DR Congo this year.
At least 19 soldiers from South Africa, Malawi and Tanzania were killed when the M23 captured the region’s biggest city, Goma, in January.
Thousands of people have been killed during the fighting and hundreds of thousands left without shelter after fleeing their homes.
Eighteen-Eleven Media