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.

Kagame's comments clearly suggested that he wants South Africa to back off from DR Congo, where its military involvement dates back to the late 1990s. It first joined the UN's peacekeeping mission, Monusco, following the end of the racist system of apartheid in 1994.

The extraordinary summit was called after the Rwanda-backed M23 group captured most of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo this week in fighting that killed 16 soldiers from South Africa and Malawi deployed as part of regional peacekeeping efforts.