Kenyan peacekeepers arrive in east of DR Congo

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Kenyan soldiers on Saturday landed in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, as part of a regional military operation against rebels in the conflict-stricken region, this time in the volatile east of the DRC.

The Kenyan soldiers come at a time when the M23 militia surged across the eastern North Kivu province of the DRC, which has been causing tensions to surge in central Africa amid major advances for the rebels.

Les éléments de l'ARC/M23 inspectent un des chars des Fardc détruits dans les combats d'hier. pic.twitter.com/z1ja5dHBCX

— Bernard Byaruhanga (@BernardByaruha2) November 12, 2022

Leaders of the East African Community (EAC), a seven-nation bloc, agreed months ago to establish a joint force to help restore security in the DRC.

Kenya, a nation that plays a regional heavyweight in the EAC, approved the deployment of a little over 900 troops to the volatile nation as part of the bloc's joint military force.

The soldiers' mission is to "conduct offensive operations" alongside Congolese forces and assist in disarming militias fighting against the state, Kenyan Lieutenant-Colonet Dennis Obiero told reporters.

"Insecurity is something which breaks up the social fabric," he added, explaining that the soldiers in Kenya would also cooperate with humanitarian agencies in their bid to bring stability to the eastern DRC.

The region has some 120 armed groups active across it, many of which were left there in the wake of regional wars that kicked off in the earlier years of the millennium.

The DRC army was engaging in heavy fighting in North Kivu with the M23 on Friday, leading to the power being disrupted in Goma, a key commercial hub that is home to about a million people.

The M23 was formed by former members of a Tutsi militia in Congo that was originally supported by Rwanda and Uganda. The rebels were absorbed into the Congolese army as part of a peace agreement reached on March 23, 2009. They mutinied in 2012, claiming that the agreement had not been upheld, and renamed their group the March 23 (M23) Movement. The DRC accuses Rwanda of backing the militia.

The M23, one of the armed factions roaming the eastern DRC temporarily took Goma before being defeated and pushed out of the nation.

Following its defeat, the M23 negotiated an agreement with Kinshasa that contained measures for its fighters' reintegration into civilian society. However, the group has accused the government of breaching the agreement once more, and combat restarted last year.

The DRC expelled Rwandan ambassador Vincent Karega in Kinshasa over the issue.

Rwanda rejected the allegations of backing the M23 and counter-responded with the claim that the DRC works with a Hutu rebel movement, the Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) involved in the 1994 genocide of Tutsis, which Kinshasa denied. 

In an announcement by government Spokesperson Patrick Muyaya, after a governmental meeting to assess DR Congo's security situation, the recent advances made by the M23 led the UN peacekeeping mission to increase its "troop alert level" in the area. 

The M23 fighters took control over the regions of Kiwanja and Rutshuru-centre in late October, and they were also spotted in Rugari, close to the border with Uganda. 

In Kiwanja, four peacekeepers were injured, according to the UN mission announcement, with civil society representative Jacques Niyonzima stating, "Kiwanja and Rutshuru-centre are in M23 hands,"

The rebels made several feats in recent weeks, winning several key battles against the Congolese army in North Kivu, which increased the amount of ground they had.

The United Nations' humanitarian agency OCHA estimates that recent fighting in North Kivu has displaced 188,000 people.