Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni says all East African Community member states should work together to sort out the dozens of rebel groups causing instability in Eastern DR Congo.
“The problems affecting the region like the crisis in Congo need a collective approach from all regional members of the East African Community. We must insist on working together because these people have suffered a lot,” the Ugandan leader tweeted soon after attending the third EAC conclave meeting hosted by the regional bloc chairman, President Uhuru Kenyatta in Nairobi, Kenya.
The EAC conclave, whose members are Kenya, DR Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, was set up to encourage dialogue between rebels and the Congolese government.
Present at the Monday meeting were Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Evariste Ndayishimiye (Burundi), Salva Kiir (South Sudan) and Felix Tshisekedi (DR Congo).
President Samia Suluhu Hassan of the United Republic of Tanzania was represented at the meeting by the country’s ambassador to Kenya, High Commissioner John Stephen Simbachawene.
The meeting is an acceleration of ongoing regional efforts to attain sustainable peace and security in Eastern DRC.
Last week, Uhuru called for the deployment of the East African Regional force to the DRC to quell growing insecurity.
But DRC says they will not accept Rwandans to be part of the regional force. Tshisekedi accuses Kagame of supporting M23.
In addition, authorities in Eastern DRC on Sunday accused Rwandan soldiers of supporting attacks by the M23 rebel group.
The authorities accused Rwanda of seeking to occupy the Congolese border town of Bunagana that has already been captured by M23.
Rwanda says it will not seek permission from Kinshasa to neutralize threats emanating from DRC.
President Museveni’s position means that Rwanda must be accommodated somehow within the regional force.
President Kenyatta further called for a disarmament exercise in the provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu and asked armed groups operating in the regions to lay down arms and embrace the ongoing political solution to the conflict.
“The hostilities, in particular, threaten to undermine the ongoing political process aimed at addressing the security situation,” he said.
The violence has forced at least 25,000 people to flee their homes, with thousands escaping to neighbouring Uganda.
Commanders of respective Defence Forces that form the EAC force met in Nairobi on Sunday, June 19, 2022, to finalize preparations for the deployment.
Consequently, the Chief of Defence Forces of Kenya, General Robert Kibochi, in his capacity as the Chairman of the Committee of East African Community Chiefs of Defence presented to the heads of state the brief defined the problem, highlighted the threat analysis, Concept of Operations (CONOPs), Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), Rules of Engagement (ROE) and other legal and technical regulations to facilitate the operationalization of the Regional Force and its various operational arms.
The heads of state instructed that the regional force should cooperate with the military and administrative forces of the DRC.
President Kenyatta further called for a disarmament exercise in the provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu and asked armed groups operating in the regions to lay down arms and embrace the ongoing political solution to the conflict.
“The hostilities, in particular, threaten to undermine the ongoing political process aimed at addressing the security situation,” he said.
The violence has forced at least 25,000 people to flee their homes, with thousands escaping to neighbouring Uganda.
The Heads of State directed that an immediate ceasefire should be enforced and cessation of hostilities should commence immediately, including withdrawal from recently taken positions.
The heads of state also emphasized that all offensive language, hate speech, threats of genocide and other politically inciting language must cease and must be discouraged by all parties and that the people of the DRC must be encouraged to work together in order to stabilize the eastern DRC for it to prosper.
Scenes of angry Congolese wielding sharpened machetes combing through Goma city suburbs ransacking for Kinyarwanda speakers of ethnic Tutsi background has become a common phenomenon but the DRC government has furiously denied.
Many legally settled Rwandans and Congolese of Tutsi ethnicity have been severely beaten, robbed and some killed by angry Congolese mobs in revenge against M23 rebel seizure of Bunagana town.
The xenophobia against Kinyarwandan speaking Congolese has taken a different dimension. Certain soldiers in the Congolese army have been arrested and detained on suspicion that they could be collaborators of Rwanda.
