The first elements of the Burundian battalion to be deployed in North Kivu Province as part of the East African Community Force arrived in DRC’s provincial capital Goma on Sunday.
“They join the Kenyan soldiers who have been deployed there since November 2022, to contribute to the restoration of peace,” the Force de Défense Nationale du Burundi said in a brief statement.
In August last year, the EAC bloc members agreed to deploy a regional force to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to combat armed groups there.
On 15 August, a Burundian contingent was the first to enter the DRC under EAC auspices.
The eastern DRC is experiencing an alarming uptick of armed group violence, including increased attacks on civilians and camps for the displaced.
The draft battle plan says the region is to assemble between 6,500 and 12,000 soldiers with a mandate to “contain, defeat and eradicate negative forces” in the eastern DRC.
Led by a Kenyan commander and headquartered in Goma, North Kivu’s capital and commercial hub, the combat force would operate in four Congolese provinces (Haut-Uélé, Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu) with a six-month renewable mandate, and subject to a strategic review to be conducted by the parties every two months.
Burundi, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda are all providing troops, which will fight jointly with Congolese forces.
