By David Mwere, NAIROBI Kenya
Kenya will spend Sh4.45 billion ($36.5 Million) to keep its troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the next six months, Parliament heard Wednesday.
The National Assembly
yesterday approved the request by the Executive to send the
soldiers to the East African Community Regional Force- Democratic
Republic of Congo (EACRF-DRC) even as MPs raised questions on account of
economic and security challenges the country is facing.
ALSO READ: Kenya deploys army to DR Congo to fight M23 rebels
The amount is Sh601.87 million
above the Sh3.849 billion contained in the memorandum to the National Security
Council (NSC) on the matter.
However, if the Kenyan troops
stay for one year, the cost implication will be approximately Sh7.2 billion.
In case the troops stay on,
the annual cost implication will be approximately Sh5.5 billion to Sh6 billion.
It is, however, envisaged that
international financing may be secured for the operation and if this
materializes, the Cabinet Secretary will apprise the Committee accordingly.
The Sh4.5 billion is over and
above the Sh131.68 billion allocated to the Ministry of Defence in the 2022/23
financial year with Sh128.22 billion for recurrent expenditure and Sh3.47
billion for development expenditure.
The expenditures for KDF in
DRC will mainly go towards equipment, operations and payment of sustenance
allowances.
Yesterday, Belgut MP Nelson
Koech, who chairs the Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations of the
National Assembly that considered and approved the executive request said
Defense Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale had explained discrepancy.
Mr Koech told the House as he
moved for the adoption of the committee’s report that CS Duale had explained
that the discrepancy emanated from changes effected on the budget after a
reconnaissance visit to the area in question that necessitated a change of strategy.
“Our troops are there to enforce peace, not peace keeping. We want peace and stability in the East African region. We want to ensure that our people doing business in DRC are safe,” said Mr Koech as he rallied the House to approve the report.
It was a decision of the EA
member states to send their troops to enforce peace in the DRC that has never
known peace since 1996 when the fighting started.
Kenya joins two other EAC
member states- Burundi and South Sudan that have already deployed their military
forces to DRC.
The other EAC
countries, Uganda will send its troops later this month with Tanzania to
join the force later. Rwanda has its forces within its territory.
The House made the decision in
line with the East Africa Community (EAC) Legal framework on Peace and
Security, Article 240 of the Constitution of Kenya and the Kenya Defense Forces
Act.
However, Nyando MP Jared
Okello was the lone voice in the House that opposed the deployment saying that
Kenya already has enough problems to deal with.
“Currently the country has
challenges to do with the prolonged drought situation affecting the country as
well as the local security issues. This money was better spent to deal with
these challenges and many others,” said Mr Okello.
But Mr Koech told the House
that the deployment of the KDF to the Regional Force “is aligned strategically
to Kenya’s national interests.”
“It will enhance the country’s
ability to not only respond to threats emanating from the Great Lakes Conflict
System but also help to mitigate threats to Kenya’s stability and thereby
enhance the security of its citizens,” the committee chairman said.
He also noted that Kenya will
also be in a position to secure its vital interests including Kenyan businesses
like Banks operating in the DRC, numerous Kenyan business people in the DRC,
bilateral trade with the DRC and utilization of the Mombasa port by the DRC
among others.
The EACRF-DRC has a peace
enforcement mandate unlike the United Nations Organization Stabilization
Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) which had only a
peacekeeping mandate.
Peacekeeping forces are
lightly armed and use minimum force and only in exceptional cases while peace
enforcement deploys military assets to enforce peace against the will of the
parties to a conflict.
The approval of the report
came even as members complained that the budget was too high for a country that
had in the recent past embraced austerity measures due to limited fiscal space
as well as the biting prolonged drought.
The MPs also noted that there
was no clear exit strategy, which they likened to the incursion of KDF in
Somalia in 2010 to date.
The NSC ratified the
memorandum on the establishment of the EACRF-DRC on July 7, 2022 and made a
request to the National Assembly for the approval of the deployment.
The mandate of the EACRF is to
jointly plan and conduct operations with the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) in
the Joint Area of Operation (JOA), to defeat the local and foreign armed groups
in Eastern DRC and to support FARDC in “concretizing” maintenance of law and
order.
The mandate will enable the RF
to support the DRC in collaborating with humanitarian agencies to continue
humanitarian relief to populations affected by activities of armed groups
including IDPs, and support the Programme for Disarmament, Community
Re-Integration, and Stabilization (P-DDRCS).
It is a concern that the
numerous proxy wars being wedged in Eastern DRC likely to jeopardize the safety
and effectiveness of the KDF officers.
This is compounded by the fact
that KDF will be deployed alongside forces from Rwanda and Uganda, countries
with known vested interests in Eastern DRC.
The Koech-led committee was,
however, told that the EAC had engaged in diplomatic efforts to forestall any
possibility of proxy wars.
“The Kenyan Contingent
(KENCON) had a lot of goodwill from residents of Eastern DRC due to the fact
that Kenya doesn’t share a border with the DRC and therefore had no direct
vested interests in the Great Lakes Conflict Ecosystem,” the adopted report of
the committee says.
If left on its own, the
situation in the DRC threatens regional peace, security, and stability of the
Great Lakes Region, the Horn of Africa, and the larger Eastern African region.
The committee was told that
the incessant instability in Eastern DRC is likely to spill over to the Horn of
Africa conflict system, including having the effect of emboldening terror
groups such as Al Shabaab and thereby undermining the counterterrorism agenda.
By deploying KDF, Kenya is
expected to provide leadership and “tangibly” contribute to the maintenance of
regional and international peace and security being a current non-permanent
member of the United Nations Security Council.
Already Burundi has two
battalions and one naval squadron deployed in DRC, Rwanda has two battalions
with combat support within Rwanda borders, South Sudan has one battalion with
support elements already deployed one battalion.
Uganda has two battalions with combat support to be deployed on November 15, 2022 in addition to the brigade already deployed. Tanzania has promised to join the operation later. - Nation
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