The East African Community (EAC) has expressed concern over DR Congo’s unilateral decision to expel Rwandan military officers who were working in the headquarters of the regional force deployed in November 2022 to facilitate peace efforts in the east of the country.
In a letter seen by The New Times dated February 1, Peter Mathuki, the EAC Secretary General, asked the Congolese Prime Minister, Christophe Lutundula, to explain Kinshasa’s decision on January 30 to deport the three Rwandan officers.
It is a decision, Mathuki said, the EAC "has learned with concern.”
"Your Excellency, you may recall that the deployment of the officers at the East African Community Regional Force Headquarters in Goma to support the Regional Command Centre, was a decision of the Heads of State at the their meeting on the Peace Process in the Eastern DRC held on the sidelines of the COP27 on 7TH November 2022 in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt,” reads the letter.
Kigali was not surprised by DR Congo’s move to expel its military officers from the East African Community regional force headquarters in the Congolese city of Goma.
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The EAC regional force was deployed in November 2022, with some 900 troops from Kenya, and tasked to facilitate regional efforts to restore peace in eastern DR Congo. Kinshasa did not allow Rwandan troops into the regional force but had accepted only two Rwandan officers in the regional force’s headquarters in Goma.
Mathuki reminded Lutundula that on September 8 DR Congo concluded a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the EAC relating to the deployment of the regional force.
Under the agreement, the DR Congo government and the EAC agreed that the regional force personnel "shall enjoy the privileges and immunities,” the letter said.
"In view of the foregoing, the Secretariat would like to seek further and urgent clarification from Your Excellency, on the above decision,” Mathuki wrote.
"I wish to confirm that the EAC is committed to restoration of peace and securioty in Eastern DRC and appreciates the efforts by the Heads of State.”
Commenting on the expulsion, Amb. Macharia Kamau, Kenya’s former Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, earlier said it was "hugely unfortunate.”
"This is not consistent with the aspirations of the Nairobi and Luanda peace processes,” Kamau tweeted.
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Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebels in eastern DR Congo, allegations Kigali dismisses. Rwanda has, for several months, denounced the cooperation of the Congolese army with the genocidal FDLR militia based in eastern DR Congo near the Rwandan border.
President Paul Kagame recently said that "the presence of genocidal forces on our borders is a serious matter of national security.”
Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya’s former president and facilitator of the East African Community-led peace process for DR Congo, on January 31, convened an urgent meeting with the bloc’s technical team to review the worsening situation in the country’s east. The meeting was necessitated by the "deteriorating security situation in eastern DR Congo, particularly in Ituri and North Kivu provinces, where serious escalation of fighting and targeted killings is reported to be taking place,” Kenyatta’s office said in a statement.
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Kenyatta "expressed deep concern to the serious violation of the Nairobi Principles and the Luanda Agreement” that was signed in November 2022. He also called for "urgent return to dialogue and consultation in order to promote trust and confidence among the parties to the conflict and alleviate suffering of people.”
While the M23 rebels started implementing the resolutions of the Luanda summit by withdrawing from some of their positions, Kinshasa totally ignored the regional peace efforts.
The biggest roadblock to peace in the region is Kinshasa’s refusal to implement existing roadmaps including the Luanda roadmap and the Nairobi process. These road maps demanded that Kinshasa disarm all armed groups and engage in dialogue on the way to a sustainable solution to the crisis in eastern DR Congo.
Besides Kinshasa aligning itself with FDLR – a Rwandan genocidal militia formed by remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi – it also continued to alienate the M23 rebels, thereby reducing the prospects for peace. The FDLR which is now integrated in the Congolese army poses an existential security threat to Rwanda and the region.
In October 2022, Human Rights Watch reported that between May and August 2022, the Congolese army with a coalition of Congolese militia as well as the genocidal militia fought against the M23 rebels in North Kivu province.
Human Rights Watch received credible information that the Congolese army provided more than a dozen boxes of ammunition to FDLR fighters in Kazaroho, one of their strongholds in the Virunga National Park, on July 21.
An FDLR fighter told Human Rights Watch that he witnessed four transfers of ammunition. "It’s the government [troops] that would always provide us with ammunition,” he said. "They also gave us uniforms and boots.”