At the Bunagana border, East African Community (EAC) Regional Force representatives have been engaged in a string of high-profile discussions with the M23 rebel leadership as Uganda People Defense Forces (UPDF) troops made their last-minute preparations to cross into North Kivu Province.
On Wednesday evening, the EAC Regional Force signed off a brigade of 5,000 Ugandan soldiers to cross into Rutshuru territory for a peace mission in a region that the M23 had completely conquered.
The deployment follows the guidelines from the mini-summit of heads of state held in Luanda, the capital of Angola, on November 25, 2022, and the directives from the 20th Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State, which was held in Bujumbura, Burundi, on February 4, 2023.
On the Ugandan side of the border, the first private meeting took place at around 3 p.m. under extremely strict security.
Major General Jeff Nyaggah, the overall commander of the EAC Regional Force, and Brigadier General Emmanuel Kaputa, who also represented the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), presided over the meeting.
Major Willy Ngoma served as the leader of the M23 leadership officials. General Wilson Mbasu Mbadi, the UPDF’s Chief of Defense Forces, and Lieutenant General Kayanja Muhanga, the commander of the Ground Forces, are leading the Ugandan military.
Mbaddi and Muhanga emerged after around 30 minutes and departed for Kampala.
According to Nyaggah, the purpose of the meeting was to ensure that the deployment of Ugandan troops went successfully.
The M23 rebels and FARDC have not violated the cease-fire in the previous two weeks, he continued, showing that progress is being made in restoring peace.
In March 2023, M23 declared war on the DR Congo’s government. The DR Congo’s government claims that Rwanda is supporting M23, but both Rwanda and M23 vehemently refute this.
Rebels assert that they are fighting against corrupt, xenophobic, and discriminatory leadership in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
