APA-Kinshasa (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi has questioned the moral integrity of the East African regional force deployed to help restore peace and security in the east of the DR Congo.
During a visit to Botswana on May 9, President Tshisekedi demanded that the peacekeepers under the East African Community (EAC) should leave Congolese territory definitively given that the results of their mission have been unsatisfactory.
The Congolese leader’s issue with the regional force, including Kenya’s appointment of Maj Gen Alphaxard Muthuri Kiugu to replace General Jeff Nyagah as force commander.
“Some contingents of the regional force made it clear when they arrived that they were not going to fight the M23” he claimed.
“There is also the issue of the general commanding the force, General Jeff Nyagah, who dramatically resigned, surprising us all when talking about threats – threats he never told us about. Why didn’t he tell us about these threats? He himself knows that,” Tshisekedi said.
When Gen Nyagah decided to leave DR Congo, the Congolese leader noted, Kenya directly appointed another force commander “without consultation as if this force belonged only to Kenya.”
“There is clearly a problem. We must make things clear,” Tshisekedi said.
The SADC force is distinct from the U.N. Force Intervention Brigade to which a number of southern African countries have contributed troops.
The brigade contributed to the defeat of the M23 rebellion during a previous offensive in 2013 but is set to withdraw in 2024.
Angola, which is also part of the SADC, said in March it would send 500 troops to eastern DRC.
CU/abj/APA