The United Nations Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) and the East African regional force (EACRF) plan to launch joint operations in order to ensure stability in the east of the country, the latter announced on Tuesday following a meeting between the forces’ commanders.
EACRF Commander Maj. Gen. Jeff Nyagah and MONUSCO Force Commander Lt Gen Otavio Rodrigues met at the headquarters of the mission in DRC’s capital city of Kinshasa. During the meeting, the commanders discussed possible areas of cooperation and collaboration between the two forces, including demarcation and delineation of operational boundaries, and battlespace management, in particular, airspace control.
According to the EACRF, they also considered ways of improving logistics in terms of medical evacuation and “limited airlift capability to remote bases.” Apart from that, the commanders touched upon the topics of engineering support in defense preparations, opening of main supply routes, as well as information and intelligence sharing.
Commenting on the recent meeting, DRC’s Minister of Communication Patrick Muyaya explained that it was aimed at improving coordination between the two forces, making their operations more effective as the country is still struggling to put an end to the activities of various armed groups in the east.
“The aim is to coordinate operations to make the peace-seeking mission more effective in eastern DRC where armed groups remain active and harmful. But as far as the M23 is concerned, local sources have not reported any recent fighting as the deployment of EACRF is now complete after the arrival of South Sudanese troops in North Kivu on Sunday and Monday,” Muyaya is quoted as saying by local media.
He also noted that the regional forces' troops are moving into areas where the rebel groups have already withdrawn, “in accordance with the Luanda roadmap, which provides for the gradual occupation of areas engaged by M23 rebels."
In November last year, it was reported that the regional force is gradually preparing to take over the role of MONUSCO, which has been subjected to criticism due to its inefficiency in terms of establishing security and peace during the years of its deployment.
The M23 rebel group, which mainly operates in eastern DRC, has been conducting a major campaign against government troops in recent years, seizing large portions of the country’s territory. Against this backdrop, the East African Community decided to create a regional force to help stabilize the situation. Last year, the organization started to deploy troops from member states, including Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, and South Sudan.