Ugandan Army To Send 1,000 Military Troops To DR Congo By End Of November

The Ugandan army on Monday said the government has decided to send 1,000 military troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by the end of November to support regional forces tasked with ending decades of instability in the troubled North Kivu region, reported The Africa News.

In April, the seven member countries of the East African Community (EAC), which DRC earlier joined this year, agreed to set up a force to fight militia groups in its east.

Uganda will be the third country to deploy troops in the DR Congo. Burundi and Kenya have already sent forces to the eastern province to take part in the regional force.

The Ugandan army spokesman Brig Gen Felix Kulaigye said the group intended for EAC mission in the Congo has been in training for months.

Uganda’s government recently paid a first instalment of $65 million to the DRC government in compensation for losses caused by Ugandan troops occupying Congolese territory in the 1990s.

Notably, despite the presence of United Nation’s largest peacekeeping forces, over 120 armed militant groups continue to operate across large swathes of the eastern Congo. The list includes the M23 rebels which Congo has repeatedly accused Rwanda of supporting. Kigali denies the claims.

After a peace deal in 2013, many M23 fighters were integrated into the DRC’s national military. The group resumed fighting in late 2021 after lying dormant for years, accusing the government of having failed to honour an agreement over the integration of its fighters.

The M23 group launched a major offensive this year, forcing thousands of people from their homes, and sparking a diplomatic row between Congo and Rwanda.

On Friday, the EAC said Kenya’s former President Uhuru Kenyatta and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame had agreed on the need for M23 rebels to cease fire and withdraw from captured territory.