East Africa regional force pledges to counter advancing M23 rebels, keep Goma safe

The East African Community Regional Force (EACRF), led by Kenya, has vowed to protect the city of Goma, which is home to one million people, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from the advancing M23 rebels.

Kenya sent recently hundreds of troops to Goma to quell the violence after M23 rebels clashed with the Congolese army. “We are here to protect and defend the Goma international airport, including the force headquarters, as the rest of the processes continue,” said Jeff Nyagah, the Kenyan commander of the EACRF, pledging to ensure the safety of the city’s residents. The commander also said the regional force was an intervention force, not a peacekeeping one.

M23 fighters are reported to have advanced to within 20 km to Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, after the Congolese army abandoned their defensive positions. East African countries agreed in April to send troops to the DRC to help stabilize the country’s eastern region, which has seen decades of conflict sparked by the presence of foreign rebel groups and fighting among local groups over control of the area’s mines, which produce gold, diamonds, tin and other valuable resources.

Experts say M23 is one of the country’s most heavily armed groups and remains a real threat to the region’s stability. The Kinshasa government has repeatedly accused neighboring Rwanda to be behind the resurgence of the rebel group in the east of the country, an accusation denied by Kigali.