Leaders of the East African Community (EAC), will on Wednesday meet in Bujumbura, Burundi for the Regional bloc summit.
This summit will be used as an occasion by various leaders especially those from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to voice their security concerns.
Top on the agenda is the East African Community Regional force deployed in various parts of eastern Congo, and whose mandate has been contested by Kinshasa.
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has continuously pressed for military action- targeting the M23 rebels, but regional leaders seem divided on whether to open fire or give the political approach a priority.
Tshisekedi, who accuses Rwanda of destabilizing Congo, doesn’t seem confident with the mandate of the force.
During a visit to Botswana on May 9, the Congolese leader indicated that the regional boots might leave his country in June.
“If the results of this mission are not satisfactory, the regional force that came to quell violence and restore peace will have to leave the Congolese territory”. Said the Congolese leader during a media briefing.
The Regional contingent was sent to Congo in November 2022 to help quell violence and oversee the promised withdrawal of the M23, a rebel group claiming to represent the interests of ethnic Tutsis, from areas it had seized months before.
Military leaders drawn from the East African Community member states met in Bujumbura on Monday for an extraordinary meeting, to discuss the security situation in the DRC.
This meeting is part of continued efforts to restore peace and sanity in the mineral-rich region.
More to follow…
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