KINSHASA: President of Kenya William Ruto said on Monday that East African troops would bring peace to eastern DR Congo (DRC), which is suffering due to the offensive of the armed group M23.
Kenyan soldiers deployed as part of an East African Community (EAC) force, have recently arrived in the area suffering from continuous violence.
Addressing a presser in Kinshasa, the president said that the regional force will enforce peace against the insurgents.
The militant group Olese tutsi M23 has seized swathes of territory in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province and is now marching towards the main city in the region, Goma.
War reignites regional tensions
The war has also reignited regional tensions, with the DRC blaming its neighbor country Rwanda of supporting the M23. The United Nations experts and US officials have also pointed fingers at the country in recent months.
However, Kigali denies these accusations and says that Kinshasa was colliding with FDLR, a former Rwandan Hutu rebel group established in Congo after 1994 genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda.
The M23 militia rose to fame in 2012 when it seized Goma, before being expelled and going to ground. But the group reemerged in the last days of the previous year, claiming the DRC had failed to respect a promise to include its militants in the army. It also made some other grievances.
Kenya is also a part of the joint EAC and is sending about 900 soldiers to the DRC to help in restoring peace and security. The first batch of its troops landed in the country last week.
Ruto, in his press conference, said that he was aware of the pace forces’ presence in the region, helping the thousands-strong UN soldiers to bring peace and stability, but the East African soldiers would be more forceful. –APP/AFP
