GOMA, DR Congo
If the EAC troops are tasked with defusing the tension flared up in eastern DRC by rebel groups. The why do some Congolese fear a fragmentation of their country from the troops?
The Democratic Republic of
Congo has once again been fighting M23 rebels after the armed group re-emerged
in late 2021.
After a series of setbacks on
the front, the seven-nation East African Community (EAC) which includes the DRC
decided to form a military force to respond to the crisis last June.
Kenyan soldiers deployed in
November, followed in recent weeks by Burundian, Ugandan and South Sudanese
troops.
They are tasked with
overseeing the withdrawal of M23 fighters from eastern DRC.
On April 3rd, a spokesperson
for the regional force announced that Ugandan troops had taken control of
Bunagana, a key town that was captured by the M23 rebels in
June 2022.
Despite some positive
developments, the role and presence of certain neighbouring countries in the
regional force have some Congolese concerned.
Denis Mukwege, the Congolese
doctor who won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for helping rape victims in the
region, recently tweeted that the EAC force is made up of "destabilising
states."
Congolese MPs also recently
asked the Defence and Foreign Affairs ministers for clarifications about the
EAC force, and in particular the role of Ugandan troops. It is because Uganda
has a history of interference in eastern Congo.
During the first and second
Congo war (mid1990's to 2003), the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF)
invaded their neighbour, looting minerals among other crimes. The second
conflict involved up to nine African countries, including Burundi. Rwanda
supported rebel groups in DRC's mineral-rich east.
But all doesn't belong to the
past, recent reports have made Congolese even more suspicious.
United Nations experts said in
December that the Ugandan government appeared to have turned a blind eye to M23
fighters moving back and forth over the Ugandan-DRC border.
The distrust and the perceived
lack of progress of the EAC mission prompted thousands of people to demonstrate
in Goma (February 6), the commercial hub in eastern DR Congo, to protest the East
African military force.
The Congolese government
spokesman Patrick Muyaya acknowledged "apprehensions" surrounding the
EAC force, during a press briefing on April 3rd.
However, he stressed that EAC
force had been deployed at the invitation of the Congolese government and as
part of a regional push to de-escalate the crisis.
"This must not be viewed
as balkanization," [Editor's Note: fragmentation of the DRC ] Muyaya said,
referring to the division of a country into smaller states.
According to residents, M23
fighters have withdrawn from some villages and towns in North Kivu since early
April.
Yet the fighters remain
present in others towns, including where the EAC force is deployed, which, like
the UN, is unable to bring peace and is accused of passivity with the rebels.
If the total size of the EAC
force is unclear, the troops will try to enforce the March 30th deadline that
was supposed to mark the end of the withdrawal of "all armed groups",
according to a timetable adopted by the EAC.
Dozens of armed groups plague
eastern DRC, a legacy of regional wars that raged in the 1990s and 2000s.
One group, the M23, has been
accused of killings and has caused hundreds of thousands of people to displace
since it re-emerged from dormancy.
The rebels first came to
international prominence in 2012, when briefly capturing North Kivu's capital
Goma before being driven out and going to ground.
The Government of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and the M23 rebels signed a deal in 2013.
It effectively ended the
Kampala Dialogue which aimed at reaching a final and principled agreement that
ensured the disarmament and demobilization of the M23 and accountability for
human rights abuses.
When taking up arms again, the
rebels accused the Congolese government of failing to meet commitments on the
demobilization and reintegration of its combatants.
UN experts reported last year
that the M23 rebels were backed by Rwanda.
Kinshasa accuses Kigali and
its alleged M23 "auxiliaries" of wanting to get their hands on the
minerals in eastern Congo.
The rebels, a group consisting
of Tutsi Congolese, claim for their part to be defending a segment of the
population whom they say is threatened.
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