Ceasefire in Congo as UPDF withdraws

The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) has withdrawn hundreds of its troops deployed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) under a regional initiative, five days after military chiefs endorsed the pull-out.

News of the troop withdrawal coincided with an announcement by former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, the facilitator of the Nairobi peace-building process, that the government of DR Congo and M23 rebels had agreed on a 72-hour ceasefire.

The United States (US) brokered the truce, according to a statement issued by Mr Uhuru’s office, which hoped the ceasefire would be “extended indefinitely in order to facilitate the peace-building process and to put an end to the senseless killing and suffering in the eastern DRC”.

“[His Excellency] President (rtd) Uhuru Kenyatta welcomes the United States-brokered ceasefire and former President Kenyatta looks forward to the resumption of the Nairobi process and the final brokering of a lasting peace in the troubled region of the eastern Congo,” the statement reads in part.

The East African Community (EAC), of which the DRC is a member, inserted itself into Congo’s war theatre by deploying troops from November 2022 to stabilise the restive east after M23 rebels captured several towns there and threatened an onslaught on Goma City, the capital of North Kivu Province.

Member states of the regional bloc that placed boots on Congo’s soil under the regional initiative formally called the East Africa Community Regional Force (EACRF) included Kenya, Burundi, Uganda and South Sudan.

After nearly a year, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi’s government dialed a time up on the forces, accusing the troops of failing to neuter M23’s military threat.

In an interview in Kampala on December 4, UPDF and Defence spokesman, Brig Felix Kulayigye, however, told our sister radio station, KFM, that the regional force was not mandated to fight the rebels.

The purpose of the deployed foreign troops, he noted, was to establish a buffer between the insurgents and government forces to allow a political process to move forward.

 “Our mandate was not to fight any force, but rather to create an environment for a political process. Now the political process was heavily dependent on the DRC government, and its protagonists,” he said, adding, “It turns out that some circles thought we had gone in [to] fight M23. We don’t think M23 is the problem, we think the problem is political and requires a political solution.”

Diplomats familiar with the issues told this publication that despite the regional force deploying in eastern DRC, dialogue between Tshisekedi’s government and the rebels did not progress as envisaged due to accusations and counteraccusations between the two sides.

Mr Tshisekedi, who is facing a re-election battle for a vote due in a week’s time, asked the foreign forces to leave by December 8 deadline and Kenya led the exiting pack, followed by South Sudan and Burundi.
Uganda, which specifically deployed in territories the M23 rebels had captured and surrendered to the regional force, pulled its troops there out on Monday and yesterday, according to military sources, raising fears M23 could conquer the areas again amid less-than-satisfactory showing by Congolese army.

The risk of a flare up in violence nudged Washington into a diplomatic overdrive, resulting in President Joe Biden’s administration deploying US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to the region at the end of last month.

American media outlet, Politico, reported on December 1 that Ms Haines held separate meetings with President Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, to “secure commitments” to de-escalate the conflict by taking “specific steps”.

Details of the deal, according to the publication, included Rwanda pulling back its forces and military arsenal by January 1, 2024 and DRC grounding its drones.

The newspaper said the Biden administration drew up the pact, which Kinshasa and Kigali largely accepted, and the US will under the arrangement establish an intelligence fusion cell to share information with the two countries, including on ground troop and equipment movements.

It is this and a series of other overtures within and outside the region which culminated in the announcement by former Mr Kenyatta’s office that Kinshasa and M23 rebels had agreed on a 72-hour ceasefire midwifed by Washington.

Mr Kenyatta is the official facilitator of the Nairobi Process whose two tracks included deployment of regional forces as a buffer between government troops and M23 rebels and a fast-tracking of a political process.

The talks went nowhere in part because Tshisekedi’s government branded the M23 rebels it alleges are sponsored by Rwanda as terrorists.

The United States, as well as other Western governments, have called out Mr Kagame’s government on bankrolling the rebels, claims Kigali vehemently denies. Kagame’s government has counter-argued that Kinshasa should not scapegoat it for its failure to assert full state authority over its territory.

Congo’s eastern part is rich in prized minerals, but it has remained restive and under-developed, a conflict flash point between government forces and a motley rival rebel and militia bands.

Uganda has a parallel troop deployment there from November 2021 to, alongside Congolese military, turbo-charge a counter-offensive against Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a US-designated terrorist group birthed in Uganda.

Those Ugandan soldiers who are there under a bilateral arrangement will remain on the mission, despite their colleagues who were hatted under the EAC Regional Force exiting this week.

While meeting the Ugandan contingent in eastern DRC, the EACRF commander, Maj Gen Aphaxard Kiugu, said UPDF had fulfilled its mandate professionally. 

“The performance of the Uganda contingent has given me full satisfaction that UPDF comprises professional and deployable men [and women] who can deliver because it managed to restore normalcy in its area of responsibility by enabling free movement of the local populace, protecting their lives and property and aiding the functioning of the humanitarian aid workers,” Maj Gen Kiugu observed.

Uganda contingent’s Col Michael Walaka Hyeroba said they have worked well with the population in eastern DRC.

In a confidential agreement reached in Arusha, the northern Tanzanian city where the East African Community is headquartered, military chiefs from the regional bloc agreed on a complete withdrawal of forces under them from eastern DRC by January 7, 2024.

“The exit plan for EACRF as presented by the Force Commander was adopted. It is desirable that the host nation takes control of areas vacated by the EACRF. The FARDC be encouraged to occupy positions vacated by EACRF,” the chiefs noted.

UPDF in DR Congo

Ugandan troops have been in and out of DRC over the years, but their marked incursion and long stay was in 1997 where, alongside Rwandan forces, they toppled Mobutu Sese Seko’s government before the erstwhile friendly armies turned the guns on each other.

The war in the then Zaire snowballed to draw in multiple African states. It ended through the Lusaka Peace Pact. The International Court of Justice, in February 2022, however, ordered Uganda to pay DRC $325m (Shs1.2 trillion) compensation for pillaging its resources in a case taken against Kampala to the world court by Kinshasa.

Additional reporting by Juliet Nalwooga