Rwanda’s Premier Minister Dr. Edouard Ngirente arrives in Bujumbura, where he will be attending the 21st Extraordinary Summit of East African Community (EAC) Heads of State.
The Summit is part of continued efforts to restore peace, security and stability in Eastern D R Congo. It was preceded at Bujumbura by a meeting of the EAC Chiefs of Defence to discuss the security situation in the Eastern part of the DRC.
The seven nations of EAC decided last June to deploy a regional military force in Eastern DRC that has taken over some areas previously occupied by the M23 rebels since December 2022 but has so far failed to thwart the insurgency.
The East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) troops from Burundi, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda are currently operating in eastern DRC.
However, DRC’s President Felix Tshisekedi has said that EACRF may be expelled by June if their mandate is not fulfilled.
President Tshisekedi has been critical of the EACRF since it was deployed to eastern DRC in November 2022, saying that it has not enforced the withdrawal of the M23.
The EACRF has had some success. Since arriving in Goma, capital of the North Kivu province, the force has secured critical infrastructure, including the international airport and its surrounding areas, which are full of impromptu refugee camps.
The EACRF’s presence also has forced the M23 from Karuba, Mushaki, Neenero, Kirolirwe, Kibirizi, Mweso and adjacent areas, the EACRF said in a statement.
More than 120 armed groups are active in the region, most notably the M23, which staged a major offensive in 2022, seizing large chunks of territory in the North Kivu province and forcing hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.
The DRC accuses its smaller central African neighbour Rwanda of backing the M23, something Rwanda has repeatedly denied.
Rwanda has repeatedly accused the DRC of colluding with the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), a Rwandan Hutu rebel movement, some of whom were involved in the 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda.
A Tutsi-majority rebel group, the M23 first made a name for itself when it took the eastern DRC city of Goma in 2012, before being driven out and going dormant.
But it took up arms again at the end of 2021, accusing the DRC of not having kept its promise to integrate its fighters into the army. (End)