Regional
Regional MPs back Kenyatta’s plan for military intervention in eastern DRC
Regional
MPs are backing Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta after he reaffirmed the East African
Community’s determination to ensure peace and stability returns to the east of
the DR Congo. Kenyatta, who is the Chairperson of the EAC Summit, on June 15,
announced the activation of the East African Regional Force to
intervene in the ongoing conflict in eastern DR Congo to defuse it.
He
noted that the meeting of the regional Commanders of the respective Defence
Forces, cooperating in the Nairobi Process, scheduled for Sunday, June 19, in
Nairobi, should finalise preparations to undertake the deployment of the
Regional Force.
Members
of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) are pleased that Kenyatta is
making a move. MP George Stephen Odongo (Uganda) told The New Times that
Kenyatta’s statement was long overdue.
“As
I have pointed out before, the East African Community needs to demonstrate
capacity to deal with contradictions arising from differences either between partner
states or when conflicts arise due to different armed groups,” Odongo said.
“The
Community needs to come out very strongly and I am happy that the Chair of the
Summit, His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, has taken that decision. It is long
overdue.”
Need
to explore all options available
According
to President Kenyatta, the regional force will be deployed to Ituri, North Kivu
and South Kivu provinces immediately to stabilise the zone and enforce peace in
support of the Congolese security forces and in close coordination with the UN
Mission there, or MONUSCO.
“I
support the idea. The mechanics of how it (the regional force) is going to be
constituted, definition of its mandate, and so on, are matters that can be
discussed by Summit but what's important is that we have a force that is
capable of dealing with the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo
decisively,” Odongo added.
At
this point, Odongo said, “we need to explore all options available” to the
Community. “That's why I have always insisted that this Community needs to
enhance its capacity to have a range of tools within its toolbox to deal with
security situations and to deal with conflicts within the region.”
And
if that means that the region can ably deploy a force and at the same time
engage in diplomatic discussions including negotiations with various active
parties, Odongo noted, "then let's have a cocktail of options." "The
ultimate objective is that we should have a peaceful region."
MP
Oda Gasinzigwa (Rwanda) said: “Peace and security is an important pillar of EAC
regional integration as stipulated in the Treaty. His Excellency Uhuru
Kenyatta, as a Chairperson of the EAC Summit, is playing his role in
coordinating efforts to restore peace. His efforts in engaging with his fellow
leaders are commendable.”
MP
Gideon Gatpan (South Sudan) said: “I think this is an intervention that is in
its rightful place. Now the region is working to be able to arrest the
situation in the eastern DRC. This is an effort led by high-level leadership in
the region and we, as members of Parliament and east African citizens, should
be able to appreciate it because Congo is in the process of becoming a full
member of the EAC.
“In
that context, we need peace in the East African region. And to bring peace,
when it is necessary to use force to protect civilians, and bring sanity in the
region, then we are for it."
Reservations
MP
Fred Mukasa Mbidde (Uganda) noted that “the organic EAC approach of course,
based on consensus between partner states” would be welcome.
But
the lawmaker said he has reservations on whether it is not based on blackmail
against some partner states “rather than honesty of analysis
and trust” between partner states.
“The
approach adopted should be different from the Resolution 2098-based United
Nations Security Council Force Intervention Brigade whose main objective turned
out to be restricted to flushing out the M23 in disregard of the cause for
which they were formed,” Mbidde said.
The
UN Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) was a special brigade under
MONUSCO, authorised by the Security Council on March 28, 2013 through
Resolution 2098. The FIB was the first UN peacekeeping unit mandated to conduct
targeted operations to neutralise armed groups in eastern DR Congo. At the
time, the FIB targeted and used force against M23 rebels but remained silent on FDLR, a genocidal militia, even
though the resolution mandated it to neutralise all armed groups.
In
October 2013, it took the Congolese army and FIB only four days to dislodge the
M23 rebels from their heavily-fortified strategic strongholds in North Kivu
Province. The rebels' very swift defeat was proof that, with commitment, all
other negative forces– including FDLR could also be eliminated in a short time.
But this did not happen and this is exactly why Mbidde has reservations over
the new regional strategy.
The
FDLR comprises remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against
the Tutsi in Rwanda. After killing more than one million people 28 years
ago, they fled into eastern DR Congo.
“Protection
of the Tutsi population and a comprehensive plan to apprehend and bring before
the law, the FDLR should form part of the gist of the EAC intervention,” Mbidde
said.
Kenyatta’s
announcement came two days after the M23 rebels in eastern DR Congo, on June 13
overrun a trading hub on the border with Uganda, forcing Congolese government
soldiers there to flee into neighbouring Uganda.
Instead
of involving them in an intra-Congolese dialogue where Kinshasa was engaging
other Congolese rebel groups in talks in Nairobi, Kenya, aimed at finding
lasting solutions to the insecurity in their country’s volatile east, the M23
were branded as terrorists.
The
Nairobi peace dialogue was an outcome of the first and second EAC Heads of
State conclaves on the peace and security situation in DR Congo under the
chairmanship of President Kenyatta held on April 8 and 21, respectively.
Regional
lawmakers have said it is high time the EAC moved quickly, and resolutely, to bring
peace and security to DR Congo’s volatile east.
During
the second EAC Conclave, Presidents Félix Tshisekedi of DR Congo, Evariste
Ndayishimiye of Burundi, Kenyatta and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, and Rwanda’s
foreign minister Dr Vincent Biruta, agreed to the deployment of a regional force to contain
armed groups in DR Congo.
In
Nairobi, Congolese armed groups noted that the presence and operations of foreign militia forces –
FDLR from Rwanda, ADF from Uganda, and Burundi’s Résistance pour un État
de droit, or RED-Tabara – is a threat to peace in the region.
Kigali
has stressed that it has no intention of being drawn into an intra-Congolese matter,
but Kinshasa claims that the M23 rebels are supported by Kigali.
Source:
www.newtimes.co.rw