{"id":48995,"date":"2022-06-22T11:45:18","date_gmt":"2022-06-22T11:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.bwiza.com\/2022\/06\/22\/some-eastern-dr-congo-residents-doubt-eac-force-s-intervention\/"},"modified":"2025-02-25T19:11:56","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T17:11:56","slug":"some-eastern-dr-congo-residents-doubt-eac-force-s-intervention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bwiza.com\/?p=48995","title":{"rendered":"Some eastern DR Congo residents doubt EAC force’s intervention"},"content":{"rendered":"

AFP
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some residents in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have rejected the proposal to deploy a regional peacekeeping force.<\/p>\n

On Monday, in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, East African Community (EAC) leaders endorsed the deployment of a regional force to help stabilise eastern DRC, a move that had also earlier been discussed by military chiefs in the regional bloc.<\/p>\n

But opponents of troop deployment pointed to the chequered history that some of DR Congo’s neighbours have in the war-torn east of the country.<\/p>\n

They instead called for reforms and reinforcements in the Congolese armed forces (FARDC).<\/p>\n

“We vigorously reject” the EAC project and “call on you to give it up”, the citizens’ movement Lucha (Fight for Change) declared in a letter to President Felix Tshisekedi, citing “security, economic or geopolitical” objections.<\/p>\n

Lucha was founded 10 years ago in Goma, the capital of troubled eastern DRC’s North Kivu province, which borders Uganda and Rwanda.<\/p>\n

The group added in its letter: “At least three of the seven member states of the East African Community — Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi — have been involved for more than two decades in the destabilisation of our country, through interventions directly from their armies or through armed groups.”<\/p>\n

All three named countries, DR Congo’s eastern neighbours, were involved in the two civil wars that wracked the vast mineral-rich country between 1996 and 2003.<\/p>\n

Kinshasa has already made it clear it opposes Rwanda’s participation in any regional force, accusing it of backing the resurgent M23 rebels. Kigali denies the charge.<\/p>\n

The Kenyan president gave no details of who will make up the force, intended for the eastern border provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri to the north.<\/p>\n

Even without Rwandan involvement, however, some in Goma are not convinced by the idea of such a regional force.<\/p>\n

“I’m against it, really, that’s enough!” said samosa seller Tito Rushago on a street in Goma on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

“There are all the countries here, Senegalese, Tanzanians, Uruguayans…,” he said, reeling off the participant countries in the large UN peacekeeping force MONUSCO.<\/p>\n

Biker Patrick Bahati agreed, arguing that the international UN force, present in the country for 20 years, had changed nothing.<\/p>\n

Several people interviewed on the streets of Goma called instead for a “reinforced” and “overhauled” FARDC.<\/p>\n

The nation’s troops needed to be well paid and properly equipped, and corrupt officers replaced, they said.<\/p>\n

‘Very bad memories’
\nFor many in the region, it was not clear how any new regional force could succeed where MONUSCO had failed.<\/p>\n

“I doubt the effectiveness of this force,” said James Biensi, pastor of a church in Bunia, Ituri province. <\/p>\n

The EAC countries did not all get along, he argued, and he was wary too of a “hidden agenda”.<\/p>\n

Raphael Wekenge, the coordinator of the Congolese Coalition for Transitional Justice (CCJT) took a similar view.<\/p>\n

“I am sceptical about the operational side of a force made up of countries that have interests in our own,” he said, speaking from South Kivu’s capital Bukavu.<\/p>\n

And Paulin Mulume, from the Amka Congo collective of citizens’ movements, argued: “We have already had several joint operations in the east of the country, which have not borne fruit.”<\/p>\n

He regretted the decision taken in Nairobi, which, he said, brought back “very bad memories”.<\/p>\n

“We don’t know what prompted our president to get involved in this affair,” Mulume added. “It should have gone through parliament.”<\/p>\n

Judith Maroy, from Lucha in South Kivu, was hopeful that there was still a way out.<\/p>\n

“We think he (Tshisekedi) will come to his senses,” she said.<\/p>\n

Noble laureate
\nAnd in Bukavu, the Nobel laureate Denis Mukwege has also come out against a “regional force including countries at the root of destabilization, atrocities and the plunder of our resources”.<\/p>\n

This “will bring neither stability nor peace and risks worsening the situation”, he warned last week. He too called for a reform of the country’s armed forces.<\/p>\n

Mukwege, a gynaecologist and surgeon who has treated thousands of women victims of rape in the conflict region, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AFP Some residents in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have rejected the proposal to deploy a regional peacekeeping force. On Monday, in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, East African Community (EAC) leaders endorsed the deployment of a regional force to help stabilise eastern DRC, a move that had also earlier been discussed by military chiefs in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[453],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-en"],"yoast_head":"\nSome eastern DR Congo residents doubt EAC force's intervention - BWIZA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bwiza.com\/?p=48995\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Some eastern DR Congo residents doubt EAC force's intervention - BWIZA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"AFP Some residents in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have rejected the proposal to deploy a regional peacekeeping force. 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