SANDF says soldier’s death in DRC was not operational incident

Reading Time: < 1 minute

The South African Defence Force (SANDF) says the death of the soldier who was serving under the United Nations Mission, MONUSCO, in the DRC has nothing to do with the previous attacks.

The soldier was killed when a hand grenade exploded close to his sleeping quarters at the SANDF base in Beni, in North Kivu in eastern DRC.

The Force has indicated that its Board of Inquiry, in collaboration with the UN, will be convened to establish the facts.

SANDF spokesperson, Siphiwe Dlamini, “This is not an operational incident, which means it didn’t happen because of the engagement with the negative forces. It happened at one of our bases when the member was active yesterday in his accommodation tent. The information at hand for the moment even though the investigation is really continuing is that he opened in his tent, one of the flaps of his tent accommodation, and the hand grenade exploded after that. Now the circumstances under which that happened are still being investigated.”