On Wednesday, a brigade of 5,000 Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) soldiers was waved off on a peace mission in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province (DRC).
The troops will be stationed in Rutshuru territory as part of the East African Community (EAC) Regional Force, in accordance with decisions taken during a mini-summit of chiefs of state held in Luanda, the capital of Angola, on November 25, 2022.
The March 23 Movement (M23) insurgents are currently in control of the area. On Tuesday, troops began to arrive in the Kisoro district, where they are now stationed at the Bunagana border and the Kaya government territory.
Locals are no longer crossing the border into the DRC because Ugandan security personnel prevented them from doing so.
M23 insurgents on the DR Congo side of the border have also prevented villagers from going to Uganda. The UPDF Land Forces Commander, Lieutenant General Kayanja Muhanga, clarified during the drill at the Bunagana border that the troops are not going into North Kivu to begin an operation against rebels but rather to monitor the peace process.
According to Colonel Michael Walaka Hyeroba, the commander of the Ugandan contingent in the EAC Regional Force in the province of North Kivu, the soldiers who will be sent into action have successfully completed a course that would enable them to carry out the job without making mistakes.
According to Kisoro Resident District Commissioner Hajji Shafique Ssekandi and Kisoro District LC5 Chairman Abel Bizimana, fighting between FARDC soldiers and M23 rebels in North Kivu province that began in March 2022 has resulted in a severe economic crisis for the community, the district, and the government.
Over 80 lorries carrying products would be cleared daily to pass into the DR Congo before the war broke out in March 2022.
The plot changed in June of that same year, when rebels seized control of the DR Congo side and closed all the clearance offices. Fighting between the M23 rebels and the FARDC and militia coalition has continued despite the entry of EAC regional forces and numerous cease-fire orders.
After fierce combat with FARDC troops and a militia alliance on Tuesday evening, M23 rebels announced the conquest of Mweso and Bihambwe in the chiefdoms of Bashali and Bahunde, Masisi area. On Wednesday morning, the M23 spokesperson, Lawrence Kanyuka, issued a message on Twitter in which he accused the FARDC of taking the territories while M23 had withdrawn to allow EAC troops to do so.
Additionally, he charged that by targeting M23 positions in Muhongozi, the FARDC and Militia coalition had broken the terms of the truce.
The FARDC spokesperson for North Kivu province, Lieutenant-Colonel Guillaume Ndjike Kaiko, issued a statement on Wednesday evening, accusing FARDC of breaking the cease-fire agreement and retaking Mweso town after having withdrawn on March 13, 2023.
The EAC Heads of State resolved to send out the regional force to take over the places that M23 is vacating so that talks with the DR Congo administration can proceed.
M23, which began attacking FARDC troops in March 2022, has taken control of a number of Rutshuru territories, including the Bunagana and Busanza border crossings between Uganda and the DR Congo.
A number of citizens, lawmakers, and activists charge that the EAC regional force failed to attack M23. The DR Congo government also claims that M23 is supported by Rwanda, but both M23 and Rwanda vehemently refute this.