South Africa often uses its diplomatic heft to position itself as defender of the "global south" on the world stage, but the deaths of 13 of its soldiers in eastern Congo fighting have exposed an inability to project hard power in its own backyard.

The Southern African Development Community intervention force in the mission in the DRC is outgunned and outmanned.

As the rebels gained the upper hand in the battlefield by capturing most of Goma - the biggest city in the east - South Africa fired a diplomatic salvo, warning that further attac

The Rwandan-backed armed group M23 moved south as it closed in on a key military airport in DR Congo on Friday, a day after pledging to take the capital Kinshasa and as international criticism mounted.