Uganda army exits DRC; what next?

Uganda’s land forces commander, Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, recently announced the withdraw of his country’s troops from the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in two weeks’ time. Gen. Muhoozi tweeted that: “Operation Shujaa will officially cease in about 2 weeks according to our original agreement.”

He added that, “it was supposed to last for 6 months. Unless I get further instructions from our Commander-in-Chief or CDF (chief of defence forces), I will withdraw all our troops from DRC in 2 weeks.”

From his statement, it is clear that the reason for withdraw is the period the Ugandan Forces (UPDF) were allowed to operate in eastern DRC, and not the completion of the task that took them there. Security analysts in the region are concerned with what will happen next when Ugandan troops withdraw, especially when the security threat in eastern DRC still prevails.

In December 2021, Uganda deployed at least 1,700 soldiers into eastern DRC in a joint military operation with the Congolese army (FADRC) to fight the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). Their operation was called  “Operation Shujaa.” Although reports of the joint operation indicated that a number of ADF bases were overrun and the enemy scattered, the terrorist group continued to kill innocent civilians.

In March, at least 27 civilians were reported killed in an attack attributed to the ADF in the Mamove locality, Beni territory, on the boundary of North Kivu and Ituri Provinces. The victims were killed with machetes, dozens of houses were burnt, and hundreds of people were displaced.

The rebels who originated in Uganda in the 1990s, with the intention of overthrowing the government there, relocated to the jungles of DRC, from where they attack villages and kill innocent civilians. The terrorist group has become a regional security threat. It is now known to be recruiting from the great lakes region. In February this year, DRC army spokesperson Captain Anthony Mwalushay told reporters that three Tanzanian ADF rebels were arrested by FADRC during a in Mwalika valley, in the chiefdom of Bashu, Beni territory, Nord Kivu Province.

The rebels, he said, confessed that they were Tanzanians who were recruited by a Congolese living in Butembo to work in a gold mine in Beni but later found themselves being recruited as ADF fighters.

In October last year, Rwanda security organs arrested 13 suspects linked to the terror group. They had varied material used to make improvised explosive devices. The suspects who were arrested in Rusizi and Nyabihu districts, at different times, were planning to carry out attacks in different parts of Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.

The Ugandan army’s withdraw is seen a being premature, and likely to worsen the security situation in eastern DRC, with spill-over effects on the entire region. Apart from ADF, more than 130 other militia groups are in eastern DRC, including; FDLR, FLN, Rud- Urunana, RNC, and Red-tabara,  which have contributed to the unending insecurity situation in the region.

In March 2021, the DRC army said it wished to strengthen its military cooperation and regular consultations between the armies of the region to fight effectively and definitively neutralize all armed groups that disrupt peace in the sub-region. 

In April, this year, when the DRC was admitted into the East African Community (EAC), leaders of the bloc agreed to set up a regional military force to try end decades of bloodshed caused by negative illegal armed groups in eastern DRC.

A UN peacekeeping force (MONUSCO) has been deployed in the eastern DRC for more than a decade  with authorization to use military force to restore peace and security under chapter VII mandate. But the billions of dollars spent had no significant achievements in terms of restoring peace, security and stability in the region.

The fact that eastern DRC still faces security threats from various armed groups, with a spill-over effect on the entire great lakes region, Uganda and DRC should agree to extend the period of UPDF stay for more effective joint operations with against ADF.

The EAC leaders should also put into action the proposal of a regional force that will definitively end the security problem in eastern DRC.