The three peacekeepers were killed in a strike on SAMIDRC's Mubambiro base, just outside of the town of Sake, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Goma. This is the same base where two South African soldiers were killed and three wounded by a mortar bomb in mid-February.
"This highlights the vulnerability of this base and the likelihood that this will remain the case as combatants continue to rely on artillery and long distance ordnance," wrote Piers Pigou, Southern Africa Programme Head at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, in response to questions by DW. "It raises questions of SAMIDRC's ability to defend such bases and whether it has the requisite defensive options or will have them in the future."
M23 grows in strength
DR Congo, the United Nations and many Western countries as well as independent observers have accumulated strong evidence of Rwanda's support for M23.
The M23 rebels are increasingly wielding military-grade weaponry not usually associated with militia groups, including sophisticated assault rifles, GPS-guided long-range mortars and even surface-to-air missiles.
Stephanie Wolters, an expert on the Great Lakes region, stresses that M23 is "very different" now compared to back in 2013 when SADC forces defeated the rebel group in Congo after it temporarily seized Goma....