19 07 13 South African Government (Pretoria): South Africa: The South African National Defence Force Clarifies the Security Situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

The SANDF wishes to categorically state that
our members in DRC have not been engaged in any battle with the rebels and have
suffered no casualties thereof. Over the past 36 hours there has been various
reports coming through various sources and we would like to put it on record
that there have been no SANDF engagement in the eastern DRC with rebels.

Media is requested to stop speculating about
what is happening in the eastern DRC and rather get factual information.
Reports on the ground indicate that Sunday/Monday's attacks by the government
troops (FARDC) on positions of the M23 at Mutaho near Goma were predetermined.
The FARDC employed various capabilities and succeeded to dislocate the M23 from
Mutaho. The SANDF was not in any way affected by the clash between government
forces and M23.

We (SANDF) have consistently indicated that we
have not engaged any rebel force in the in the eastern DRC and we repeat that
that remains the case.