DRC war: Uganda to deploy troops to Goma

The news was announced by the Ugandan army spokesperson on his Twitter account this Thursday, November 17. He says that troops from his country will arrive in the near future in the city of Goma (capital of North Kivu) in the east of the DRC. They will join the Kenyan troops there, whom local civil society criticizes for waiting too long to attack the M23 rebels. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Ugandan troops will be deployed in eastern DRC
as part of the regional force. They will join the Kenyan troops already in Goma for almost a week.

“The Ugandan force is undergoing a final mentorship before being sent to eastern DRC to join our Kenyan brothers in Goma,” the Ugandan army spokesman wrote.

Trust

While the Kenyan troops say they are waiting for the results that will come out of the Nairobi dialogue to fight the M23 rebels, residents of North Kivu are having trouble digesting their position.

“We are disappointed and angry. Why don’t the Kenyan soldiers intervene directly in the offensive against the M23? What did they come here to do? They must reconsider this choice”, react the inhabitants of Goma.

Some civil society actors believe that if Kenyan troops do not want to go and fight the M23, they should return to their country to wait for the outcome of the negotiations.

“The civil society “Good governance of North Kivu” finds that the statements made by the Kenyan troops are in contradiction with the interests and the rights of the population of North Kivu and especially those who are in the camps for the displaced persons of Kanyaruchinya and elsewhere”, said indignantly Étienne Kambale, head of “Good governance”.

Fights

For the moment, the FARDC are facing several fronts in three territories including Rutshuru, Masisi and Nyiragongo.

Thursday evening, the Congolese soldiers clashed violently with the M23 north of Nyiragongo. It is about ten kilometers north of Goma.

The sending of Ugandan troops is not the first. Other soldiers from this neighboring country of the vast Central African country have also been deployed in Congo since November 2021. They are in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri as part of a joint force of armies of the two countries to eradicate insecurity in the territories of Beni, Irumu and Mambasa.

The Nairobi talks are due to resume on Nov. 21 in the Kenyan capital, according to a schedule from the office of facilitator Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya’s former president.