...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
for a peacekeeping mission in the eastern part of DRC.
They join Uganda, Kenya, and Burundi who have both answered the call to join the East African regional force tasked to restore peace in the country’s restive eastern part of Goma and Northern Kivu.
Radio Miraya -a local media station owned by the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
mission in South Sudan, President Kiir said the troops will soon be deployed to eastern DRC.
"South Sudan has contributed a battalion of 750 soldiers to the East African regional force," Kiir is quoted as saying. "These troops will be deployed to the DRC to help stabilize the eastern region."
They will join over 900 Kenyan troops who arrived in Goma in mid-November. Uganda also said it would send 1,000 soldiers under the EAC force. Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye said his country would also contribute to the regional force.
Leaders of the East African Community (EAC) resolved to send a joint force to deal with multiple gangs in the DRC after the country joined the bloc in April as the seventh member state.
The resurgence of the M23
| ...also known as the Congolese Revolutionary Army. The Tutsi group was founded in 2012 as a Rwandan sock puppet, which no doubt seemed a good idea at the time, but in less than a year the Congolese army defeated them, and then Rwanda publicly stepped back in response to international pressure. Recently M23 has started acting up again, possibly again at Rwandan instigation... |
As the Nairobi talk between the Congolese government and multiple gangs continues in Kenya’s capital city, the M23 rebels have been sidelined from the talks after Kinshasa labeled them a terrorist movement.
Speaking at the third Inter-Congolese dialogue, former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta called on all parties to the conflict to open their minds to peace and said foreign gangs must be disbanded.
"We are here as part of the East African Community to find a way and work with you to find peace. A peace that the Congolese have not seen for more than 20 years," Kenyatta said in Swahili. "Some children have never set foot in a classroom because of the conflict, and some men never got the opportunity to farm their land to bring themselves out of poverty because of conflict."
Officials present at the ongoing Nairobi inter-Congolese dialogue said some 53 rebel groups have accepted a ceasefire, including the M23 rebel group.
Stay out of our politics, DRC hits back at Rwanda's Kagame
[Garowe] The Democratic Republic of the Congo has hit back at Rwandan president Paul Kagame over remarks on the 2023 presidential elections.
President Kagame had alleged that DRC President Felix Tshisekedi is planning to use the ongoing insecurity in the eastern part of the DRC to postpone the 2023 presidential election.
The Rwandan head of state made the allegations while addressing a parliamentary session after the swearing of new members of the Cabinet.
Kagame believes the current leadership of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is creating a security emergency a year before the country holds presidential elections in order to find a reason to postpone the elections scheduled for December 2023.
More posturing from the other side, then this bit:
DRC has always accused Kagame’s government of supporting the M23 rebels who control the area in Congo’s North Kivu province. Mr Muyaya accused President Kagame of creating insecurity in DRC and trying to politically destabilize president Tshisekedi.
Mr. Kagame had earlier said that Rwanda "has no interest in insecurity in Congo" and that he was interested in a peaceful neighbourhood.
| Al Ahram adds: |
It took up arms again in November last year and seized the town of Bunagana on the border with Uganda in June. After a brief period of calm, it went on the offensive again in October, greatly extending the territory under its control and advancing towards Goma.
Kinshasa accuses its smaller neighbor Rwanda of providing M23 with support, something that UN experts and US officials have also pointed to in recent months. Kigali denies the charge.
On Thursday, the government accused the M23 militia -- with whom it is locked in a months-long conflict -- of slaughtering 50 people at Kishishe, a village around 70 kilometers (40 miles) north of the city of Goma. The M23 hit back, saying the allegations were "baseless" and denying that it targeted civilians.
At a council of ministers meeting on Friday, the DRC's president Felix Tshisekedi "condemned in the strongest terms the massacre of more than 100 compatriots in Kishishe", government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said. He said Tshisekedi had "instructed the government to declare three days of national mourning," adding that flags would be flown at half-mast throughout the country. The period of mourning will end on Monday with a televised fundraising event to support victims, Muyaya said.