Heads of State of the East African Community met at a high level meeting, which was hosted by President Uhuru Kenyatta

 

By NANGAYI GUYSON

Kampala, Uganda - The leaders of East African countries on Monday agreed to send regional troops to Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and demanded an immediate cessation of hostilities.

The declaration was made by the Kenyan President at the conclusion of a meeting of the seven East African Community (EAC) members on Monday in Nairobi, Kenya, focused on the security situation in this extremely uneasy region.

In a statement, he stated that the regional force should work with the DRC army and administrative authorities to try to stabilize and maintain peace in the country.

The Kenyan president said, "The heads of state asked for an urgent implementation of a cease-fire and for the cessation of hostilities to commence immediately.

Numerous armed organizations, the most of which are a result of two regional wars that took place a quarter century ago, blight the mineral-rich DRC's east.

Antagonism between the DRC and Rwanda has returned as a result of the recent uptick in tension in the east. Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of being to blame for the upsurge of the March 23 Movement (M23) rebellion, which is responsible for the deaths of at least 26 Congolese soldiers in an attack in January.

Kinshasa charges Kigali with aiding this primarily Tutsi uprising, which Kigali refutes.

The M23 was defeated in 2013, but returned to fighting in late 2021, accusing the Congolese government of breaking a deal to demobilize and rehabilitate its fighters.

The conference was attended by the presidents of Burundi, South Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania's ambassador to Nairobi in addition to Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta and the Congo's Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda's Paul Kagame.

During the summit, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni posted on Twitter, "Problems affecting the area like the crisis in Congo require a joint approach by all regional members of the East African Community."

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels, who are charged with massacring tens of thousands of civilians in eastern Congo and launching raids in Uganda, are being fought by Congolese forces with the assistance of Museveni's troops.

The United States listed this group, which has Ugandan roots, as one of the "terrorist groups" connected to the Islamic State's jihadists last March.

Despite Kinshasa's indication that it would not accept Rwanda's participation, the Kenyan president called for the deployment of a regional army in the eastern DRC after the M23 took Bunagana, a border station between the DRC and Uganda, last week.

The DRC joined the EAC in 2022, and Rwanda is a member of it. The presence of Rwanda in the regional force was not immediately obvious, and neither the size nor the date of the force's launch were mentioned in the statement from the Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta.

The DRC-Uganda border post that the M23 seized on June 13 has since reopened, according to an announcement made on Monday.

Since the large influx of Rwandan Hutus suspected of massacring Tutsis during the 1994 genocide nearly 30 years ago in eastern DRC, relations between the DRC and Rwanda have been strained.

Thousands of families have been impacted by the turmoil and bloodshed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the humanitarian situation has gotten worse as a result.

People have suffered very terrible repercussions as a result of violent battles between groups: many have been killed, injured, or traumatized; villages and farmland have been torched; and there has been a significant amount of population relocation.

First Congo War

DRC has had always faces hostilities from its neighbors because of its rich minerals and a country Like Uganda is facing charges by UN for invading DR Congo.

the First Congo War (1996–1997), sometimes known as Africa's First World War, was a civil war and international military conflict that mostly erupted in Zaire (the modern Democratic Republic of Congo).

The dispute came to a head with a foreign invasion that installed rebel leader Laurent-Désiré Kabila in Mobutu Sese Seko's stead.

Later, Kabila's shaky government ran afoul of his friends, paving the way for the Second Congo War, which lasted from 1998 to 2003.

Dr Congo which was then known Zaire was a failing state by 1996 after years of internal strife, a dictatorship, and economic decline.

The Rwandan genocide, which had crossed its boundaries, as well as persistent regional disputes and resentments unsolved since the Congo War had all contributed to the destabilization of the country's eastern regions.

Second Congo War

In February this year, the Democratic Republic of Congo was awarded $325 million by a U.N. court as compensation for harm done to people, property, and resources during Uganda's invasion of the DRC's Ituri region in the late 1990s, during the Second Congo War.

The EAC was established in 2000 with the purpose of facilitating international trade by removing tariffs among its member nations.

In 2010, it created a common market.