The Force Commander of the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF), Maj Gen Jeff Nyagah, on April 27, resigned from the mission, citing “aggravated threat to his safety and a systematic plan to frustrate efforts of the EACRF” as his reason.

 

In his resigning letter to the EAC Secretary General, Gen Nyagah wrote: “As you are aware, there was an attempt to intimidate my security at my former residence by deploying foreign military contractors (mercenaries) who placed monitoring devices, flew drones and conducted physical surveillance of my residence in early January 2023 forcing me to relocate.”

 

The resignation of Nyagah, a Kenyan appointed commander of the regional force deployed in eastern DRC by the East African Community to pacify the region, in September 2022, creates a major stumbling block in the forces’ lifespan.

 

For keen eastern DRC observers, it came as no surprise considering the hostility the regional force faced from top Congolese politicians, including President Félix Tshisekedi.

 

Well-orchestrated negative media campaign

 

The little details in his resignation memo are an indication that the force is operating in an extremely hostile environment. 

 

Gen Nyagah said that there has also been a well-orchestrated, and financed negative media campaign targeted at his personality and direct written false accusations of EACRF's complacency on the handling of the M23 rebels.

 

The EACRF’s Facebook account was recently suspended, an indication of sabotaging the Regional Force efforts.

 

He wrote that this is further enhanced by the current push by the Congolese government to have the Force rotated every three months which was not envisioned in the current mandate.

 

Kinshasa equally refused to pay administrative cost including Force Headquarters Offices, Staff Officers accommodation, electricity as well as salaries for civilian staff as per Article 9 (c) and (d) of the Status of Force Agreement.

 

“My security as the Force Commander is not guaranteed within the operation area. Further, the ongoing frustration has rendered my mission untenable hence the precautionary decision to exit the mission area,” Gen. Nyagah concluded.

 

Back in Kenya, Nyagah has been promoted, after taking over a new and bigger assignment, as chief of the country’s Western Command.

 

Nyagah was succeed by another senior Kenyan military officer, Maj Gen Alphaxard Muthuri Kiugu at EACRF. Won’t he also suffer the same fate as his predecessor? The writing is on the wall.

 

As the former EACRF Commander mentioned in his letter, threats to his safety and frustrating the Force’s efforts began as early as the beginning of 2023.

 

After an Extra-Ordinary Summit of EAC Heads of State on the security situation in DRC convened, on February 4, in Bujumbura, a video clip went viral on social media showing President FélixTshisekedi humiliating Gen. Nyagah. Kenyan President William Ruto witnessed part of the scene as he was at the regional leader’s meeting.

 

“It would be shameful if the population was to attack you. You came to help us to solve a problem, not to be part of it. Pay attention to this, communicate with the population,” Tshisekedi told Nyagah.

 

A day after the undiplomatic encounter, hundreds of violent demonstrators moved against EACRF on the streets of Goma.

 

Though Tshisekedi wants war with the M23 rebels, the EAC leaders reiterated that the conflict can only be sustainably resolved through a political process and emphasised the need for enhanced dialogue among all the parties.

 

Political analysts believe that the demonstrations were planned and carried out under Tshisekedi’s orders, similar to others against MONUSCO, which happened in July 2022.

 

During the initial EACRF deployment in DRC, Kinshasa’s expectation was that the Force was going to fight the M23 rebels and push them out of the country. However, this was not the Regional Force’s mission. Its mission was to create a buffer zone, taking over the localities where the M23 withdraws.

 

When Tshisekedi’s expectation failed, he hired Western mercenaries expecting that their combined efforts with his weak army, the FDLR genocidal militia from Rwanda and other local militias would push out the M23 in a short time.

 

Despite the millions of dollars given to the mercenaries, the collabo failed to push the rebels back.

 

Only EACRF had managed to bring a semblance of peace after ensuring that the M23 rebels vacate areas they previously captured.

Sabotage

On the other hand, M23 is commended for its commitment to honoring the peace processes. Since late December 2022, the rebels had withdrawn from a number of captured localities including Sake, Kibumba, Rumangabo, Mushaki, Kilolirwe, Kitchanga, Kiwanja and Bunagana, among many others.

 

These territories were handed over to the EACRF as requested by the Nairobi Peace process. Sources from Kinshasa reveal that Tshisekedi wants his army, FARDC, to occupy the areas where M23 has withdrawn from, but Gen Nyagah refused.

 

Consequently, Kinshasa opted to sabotage EACRF’s efforts as well as threatening its personnel to leave DRC. It is an open secret that Tshisekedi is willingly worsening problems in eastern DRC, so as to postpone the December elections.

 

He wants to stay in office and he also knows that there is only one way to achieve that – indefinitely postpone the presidential elections. Tshisekedi has consistently frustrated efforts by regional leaders in their search for sustainable solutions to the DRC conflict.