This Tuesday, March 30, the DRC’s Armed Forces (FARDC) announced that they will expand military cooperation with the armies of the countries in the sub-region. Bilateral meetings between security officials in Congo and Rwanda have multiplied since Felix Tshisekedi came to power. The stated goal is to put an end to the armed groups housed on both sides of the border. The conditions for cooperation have not been revealed and this raises questions from both civil society and elected officials.
as reported from Kinshasa, Patient Ligodi
The FARDC explains this decision through the will of the regional leaders in the region to effectively combat insecurity, an obstacle to economic integration in the countries in the zone. According to the Congolese army, contacts have been established and should lead to the development of strategies.
Joint plan
At present, only Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo are making great progress on the issue. In mid-March, the chiefs of staff of the Rwandan Armed Forces were received in Kinshasa. However, no information has been filtered about this plan.
On the side of the elected officials and civil society, we fear that these maneuvers will lead to joint military operations east of the already damaged country. In December 2020, the UN expert group for the DRC also reported that military operations had been carried out by the Rwandan army in northern Kivu between the end of 2019 and the beginning of October 2020. What Kigali has always denied.
Unanswered question
Deputy Juvenal Munubo even addressed an oral question in January about the possible presence of Rwandan soldiers on Congolese soil to the Minister of Defense, but the question remained unanswered in the National Assembly. On the MONUSCO side, we are aware of the subregional dimension of the problem, but we insist that contacts between staff in the countries of the region are bilateral and MONUSCO is not involved.
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