Ugandan, South Sudanese troops join EAC force in DRC’s east as rebels ignore retreat deadline

About 1,000 Ugandan troops and a first batch of at least 45 South Sudanese soldiers have entered the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the weekend to join the seven-nation East African Community (EAC) military force trying to stem the violence in the country’s eastern region wracked by the M23 rebellion.

Ugandan troops operating as part of an East African regional military force reportedly entered the east DRC border town of Bunagana on Friday (31 March) while the South Sudanese soldiers arrived in Goma two days later (2 April).

The EAC regional military force was created in June 2022 to oversee the gradual withdrawal of M23 fighters from a region plagued by dozens of armed groups, a legacy of regional wars that flared in the 1990s and 2000s. Since re-emerging from dormancy in late 2021, M23 rebels have captured swathes of territory in North Kivu province and advanced within a short distance of its capital Goma.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said last week that the troops are not due to fight the M23 but rather they will “occupy some of the positions that the M23 has handed over to the East African Force as a neutral force.”

The M23 first came to international prominence in 2012, when it captured Goma before being driven out. But the Tutsi-led group re-emerged from dormancy in late 2021, arguing that the government had ignored a promise to integrate its fighters into the army. 30 March was supposed to mark the end of the withdrawal of “all armed groups”, according to a timetable adopted in mid-February by the EAC. The deadline was not respected.

The DRC, independent UN experts and some Western powers have accused neighboring Rwanda of backing the M23, a claim that Kigali denies.