EAC in another bid to end worsening insecurity in eastern Congo

Arusha. The East African Community (EAC) has once again embarked on a bid to avert escalating violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The regional organisation says it was deeply concerned by the scaled up fighting pitting the government forces and M23 rebels, one of the armed groups.

The chairperson of the Summit of Heads of State, President Salvar Kiir of South Sudan on Monday, visited Kigali where he held talks with Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame on the crisis.

“They discussed the importance of addressing the root causes of insecurity in the region,” the EAC secretariat said in a statement yesterday.

Kiir’s visit to Kigali came amidst heightened concern about the continuous tension in eastern DR Congo where M23 rebels are battling with a Congolese army.

The two leaders underscored the need for what they described as expeditious complimentary implementation of the Nairobi and Luanda peace processes to address the crisis.

This, they stressed, would avert the unfolding dire security situation in eastern Congo “which risks a spill over into neighbouring partner states.”

A brief communique issued by the Arusha-based secretariat was not categorical on what would follow after the consultations in the Rwanda capital.

It only called upon member countries to the Community to support the peace initiatives underway by complying with their obligations as enshrined in the EAC Treaty.

Worsening insecurity in eastern Congo, which has worsened in the past two years, has largely been a conflict between the DRC government and Rwanda.

The Kinshasa authorities have consistently blamed Kigali for supporting the M23 rebels, an accusation Kigali flatly denies.

Rwanda has, on the other hand, accused the DRC army of operating in cohort with the FDLR militia which is based in eastern Congo.

Rwandese sources say the militia was founded in mid-2000, allegedly by perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda.

The crisis has seen relations between the two bona fide members of the EAC worsen, with repeated claims by Kinshasa that M23 were being armed by Rwanda.

In recent weeks, M23 are reported to have made advances towards Goma, the capital city of North Kivu, raising fears that they may take control of the city of two million people.

The M23 rebels’ latest advances came after the Congolese government’s expulsion of the EAC Regional Force (EACRF) in December last year. The force was deployed there in November 2022.

The EACRF, which comprised troops from South Sudan, Uganda, Burundi, and Kenya, had been mandated to oversee a ceasefire and the rebel’s withdrawal from earlier captured territories.

The force began withdrawing from its positions in eastern DR Congo over one year after it was deployed to support regional peace efforts, and especially to observe a ceasefire between the Congolese army and the M23 rebels in North Kivu province.

The crisis has also manifested into alleged stigmatisation of Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese, some of whom have fled to Rwanda and allegedly denied re-entry into the DRC.

Currently, it is claimed, Rwanda hosts more than 100,000 Congolese refugees, of whom over 13,000 arrived there in the past two years.

The African Union Commission (AUC) has also expressed its concerns on the escalating violence in eastern Congo, and reiterated its call for rapid de-escalation.

“All foreign powers to completely abstain from all interference in the internal affairs of all African countries, notably those in the Great Lakes Region,” insisted AUC chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat.

He implored the DRC and Rwanda leaders to prioritise dialogue in the framework of the two African mechanisms led by President João Lourenço of Angola and former Kenyan president, Uhuru Kenyatta.

According to Rwanda’s media, ongoing insecurity in eastern Congo also featured at the recent AU Heads of State Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.