Southern African leaders have announced they will pull their troops out of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where they have been helping the government fight rebel forces. The decision to start a "phased withdrawal" was made during a virtual summit of the 16-member Southern African Development Community (Sadc) on Thursday.

The Southern African regional bloc has said it will conclude its troop deployment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), having decided on a “phased withdrawal”. Leaders from the 16-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) – which has lost at least a dozen soldiers in the eastern DRC since January – held a virtual summit on Thursday to discuss the ongoing conflict in an area that has seen three decades of unrest.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) said on Thursday that a summit of regional heads of state had terminated the mandate of its troop deployment in the Democratic Republic of Congo and decided on a "phased withdrawal".

African leaders announced a phased military withdrawal from eastern Congo, involving troops from South Africa, Tanzania, and Malawi, deployed against insurgencies by M23 rebels. The decision follows increasing opposition and the deaths of peacekeepers.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has announced an end to the mandate of its military deployment in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and will begin a gradual withdrawal of troops.