JUBA, South Sudan
President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir has announced that his country has sent a battalion of 750 soldiers to DR Congo under the East African regional force tasked to restore peace in the country’s restive east, local media reports say.
According to Radio Miraya, a
station owned by the United Nations mission in South Sudan, President Kiir said
the troops will soon be deployed to eastern DR Congo.
“South Sudan has contributed a
battalion of 750 soldiers to the East African regional force,” Kiir is quoted
as saying. “These troops will be deployed to the DR Congo to help stabilize the
eastern region.”
On Friday, information minister
and government spokesman Michael Makuei Lueth revealed that the government has
approved almost $7 million for 750 troops from the South Sudan People’s Defense
Forces (SSPDF) that are to be send as part of the East African Community
stabilization force in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
They will join over 900
Kenyan troops who arrived in Goma in mid-November. Uganda also said it
would send 1,000 soldiers under the EAC force. Burundian President Evariste
Ndayishimiye said his country would also contribute to the regional force.
Leaders of the East African
Community (EAC) resolved to send a joint force to deal with multiple armed
groups in the DR Congo, after the country joined
the bloc in April as the seventh member state.
The resurgence of the M23
rebel group in May this year prompted regional and international efforts to
bring an end to the decades-long insecurity in eastern DR Congo, where
over 120
armed groups roam.
Currently, peace
talks between the Congolese government and multiple armed groups are
going on in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.
However, despite calls for
inclusivity, the M23 rebels have been sidelined from the talks after Kinshasa
labelled them a terrorist movement.
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