After suffering heavy losses in the battle against M23 rebels, the Kinshasa regime announced Wednesday that it is deploying almost 700 troops of the Special Forces.
“Seven hundred elements of the “Tiger” Battalion, one of the special forces of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC), will be deployed in Ituri after their training in the center of Rwampara, 17 km from Bunia,” said the military governor, Johnny Luboya.
“In addition to this additional training, the objective of the presence of these seven hundred new elements of the FARDC is to enable them to acclimatize to the province of Ituri where they will be deployed, on the various front lines, to hunt down all local and foreign armed groups,” the General said.
“These new elements of the FARDC were subjected for a period of 9 weeks to a combat simulation based on combat techniques and heavy and light weapons firing, rules of engagement, ambushes and international humanitarian law” , he explained.
“All local and foreign armed groups that continue to cause disorder will be neutralized as well as those that do not respect their act of commitment to cease hostilities”, he said.
The training of the “Tiger” Battalion was provided by instructors from special forces of the Republican Guard and MONUSCO.
Previously, these FARDC elements had undergone 9 months of basic training at the “Lukusa” camp, located in Kisangani, Tshopo province.
In June 2022, the French army had completed “jungle combat training” of a 2nd battalion of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and planned to train a 3rd, according to the French embassy in the DRC.
France had undertaken, already in 2021, to “strengthen its operational military partnership and to contribute to the reinforcement of the FARDC, to fight against the armed groups that continue to wreck havoc in the East of the country.
