The Southern African Development Community or SADC said Thursday that a summit of regional heads of state had terminated the mandate of its troop deployment in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo and decided on a "phased withdrawal." SADC lost more than a dozen soldiers in conflict in January. The 16-nation bloc took the decision at a virtual summit on the conflict in the area that has seen some three decades of unrest and claimed millions of lives. "Summit terminated the Mandate of SAMIDRC and directed the commencement of a phased withdrawal of SAMIDRC troops from the DRC," the Southern African bloc said in a communique after the summit. The SADC Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, SAMIDRC, — made up of soldiers from Malawi, Tanzania and South Africa — was sent to the region in December 2023 to help the government of the DRC, also a SADC member, restore peace and security. SADC extended its mandate late last year.

Bank closures in eastern DRC are causing severe financial instability. Local residents and businesses are struggling to access cash and undertake basic transactions. “These days our work is not going well, as the banks are closed nothing works; because banks help us by providing people with dollars when they withdraw,” Solange Kashere, money changer told Reuters, adding that “and now that banks are not working everything has stopped.” The closures, driven by M23 rebels' takeover of Goma and Bukavu, have shut down the provincial branch of the Central Bank of Congo and all commercial banks. This has resulted in a liquidity crisis that is crippling the local economy.

University students in Bukavu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, are gradually returning to class for the first time since M23 rebels took their city last month. Toto Mufungizi, a student, said while they were home “during these months, we have endured many strange things.” “We stayed at home for at least one month and three weeks. We were confined due to this security situation. Even today, there is no serenity, we cannot move around safely," he told Reuters. The M23 rebel group captured Bukavu, South Kivu's capital, in mid-February, forcing a weeks-long suspension of academic activities. The Official University of Bukavu, UOB, and other institutions have now reopened, but security concerns persist. "We are afraid because we heard rumors that in Goma, students were kidnapped. Here, we are also afraid," third-year student Patient Kaliwe said. Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.

At least 11 people were killed in attacks over the past day in the rebel-held Democratic Republic of Congo city of Bukavu as vigilante violence rises following the army's withdrawal, witnesses and a civil society activist said on Thursday. Reuters’ Sean Hogan has more.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed on Saturday that regional escalations of the conflict in Congo "must be avoided at all costs." "The Congolese people have been suffering yet again from a brutal cycle of violence and the fighting that is raging in South Kivu, as a result of the continuation of the M23 offensive, threatens to push the entire region over the precipice," he warned as he addressed leaders at the African Union summit in Ethiopia. "There is no military solution. The deadlock must end, the dialogue must begin, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the DRC must be respected."

In the city of Goma, a group of Congolese journalists are battling a flood of medical misinformation that can have tragic consequences. Reporter Zanem Nety Zaidi has this story from Goma, the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A mass of plastic waste is blocking the turbines of a major hydroelectric dam in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo - resulting in power outages as workers struggle to clean out plastic bottles and jerrycans. Diane To of Reuters has more.

The head of DRC's mpox response team has said the Democratic Republic of Congo's campaign to vaccinate people amid an mpox outbreak will take longer than expected and that more needs to be done to raise awareness. Reuters’ David Doyle has more.

Doctors say a new variant of mpox appears to be spreading, particularly among children, in camps housing people, who have fled violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Reuters’ David Doyle has more.

Deforestation has dramatically escalated in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo with a U.N. report warning that vast swathes of virgin forest have been lost in the Virunga national park, one of the most biodiverse territories on the continent. Reuters’ David Doyle has more.