DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi has cast a shadow over the mandate of the East African Community regional force (EACRF) deployed to his country’s conflict-ridden eastern region.

During a visit to Botswana on Tuesday, May 9, the Congolese leader indicated that EACRF might leave his country in June. "If the results of its mission are not satisfactory,” the regional force which came to help restore peace and security in eastern DR Congo, "will have to leave Congolese territory, definitively,” his office tweeted.

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Tshisekedi discussed the mandate of the EAC regional force with Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi.

An extraordinary summit of Southern African Development Community (SADC) on Monday approved the deployment of a military force to eastern DR Congo to combat militias ahead of national elections later in 2023.

The EAC force, which deployed to DR Congo in November 2022, has faced pressure from Tshisekedi who wants it to fight M23 rebels, or if not, leave.

Nonetheless, the regional force comprising troops from Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, and South Sudan, has secured the withdrawal of the rebels from various regions they previously captured from the Congolese national army. Units from the regional force’s contingents occupy positions vacated by the M23 rebel group as stipulated in regional peace agreements.

Dramatically resigned?

In April, the former EACRF force commander, Maj Gen Jeff Nyagah, a Kenyan, resigned citing a threat to his personal security and "a systematic plan to frustrate” the regional force.

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The Kenyan commander’s resignation was later deemed fake by EAC and KDF. But he was redeployed and replaced by another KDF officer, Maj Gen Alphaxard Kiugu.

Speaking to journalists in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, Tshisekedi did not hide the fact that he had issues with the regional force, including Kenya's appointment of Gen Kiugu.

"Some contingents of the regional force made it clear when they arrived that they were not going to fight the M23,” he said.

"There is also the issue of the general commanding the force, General Jeff Nyagah, who dramatically resigned, surprising us all when talking about threats – threats he never told us about. Why didn't he tell us about these threats? He himself knows that.”

When Gen Nyagah decided to leave DR Congo, the Congolese leader noted, Kenya directly appointed another force commander "without consultation as if this force belonged only to Kenya.”

"There is clearly a problem. We must make things clear," Tshisekedi said.

Eastern DR Congo is home to more than 120 foreign and local armed groups, which are responsible for various atrocities.

Multiple interventions, including the United Nations’ largest peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO), have failed to end decades of violence in the country.

Apart from the EAC force, Uganda has troops in Ituri province under a bilateral arrangement. Angola announced in March that it would send a contingent. It is not clear when the SADC force will be deployed.