DRC: Kenyan troops join regional military intervention against rebels

Kenyan President William Ruto announced Wednesday the deployment of Kenyan troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as part of a regional military intervention to support the Congolese regime against rebels operating in the east of the country.

“As neighbors, the fate of the DRC is linked to ours,” President Ruto said in Nairobi.

The Kenyan forces will join troops from Burundi, Uganda, and South Sudan.

In April this year, leaders of the East African Community (EAC) agreed to establish a joint force to help restore security in the region and intervene in DRC where, despite the presence of UN forces, a dozen of armed groups and rebels are still active.

Speaking at a ceremony in Nairobi, Ruto said the troops were “on a mission to protect humanity”.

“As neighbors, the destiny of DRC is intertwined with ours,” he added.

“We will not allow any armed groups, criminals, and terrorists to deny us our shared prosperity.”

Kenya will command the force.

Congolese authorities have rejected the participation of Rwandan forces. Kinshasa accuses Kigali of supporting M23, a major rebel group sowing havoc in the east. Rwanda has denied any wrongdoing.

The group, mostly made of Congolese, resumed fighting in late 2021 after years of inactivity, accusing the DRC government of failing to honor an agreement to integrate its fighters into the army.

Meanwhile, the UN peacekeeping mission stationed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, known as MONUSCO, had made a strategic withdrawal from the eastern military base of Rumangabo, ceding ground in the battle against the M23 rebel group, MONUSCO said.

UN troops have been supporting Congolese forces in the fight against the M23, which launched a new offensive in October and recently seized the town of Kiwanja, breaking months of relative calm. “We have made a strategic and tactical withdrawal from Rumangabo, in consultation with our partners, to better prepare the next steps together,” MONUSCO said in a post on Twitter.

The loss of the major military base is a setback for Congo and a further blow to the security outlook in the conflict-hit east.