A delegation of the UN Security Council led by Amb. Michel Xavier Biang on Saturday arrived in the Ugandan capital Kampala to meet President Yoweri Museveni over the DRC crisis.
According to the State House handlers, “Solutions to insecurity in DRC were discussed. He advised the Council to seek answers through available avenues under the EAC.”
“A united East Africa is un-defiable, but the DRC administration must show trust in it,” President Museveni told the visiting UN delegation.
Uganda currently has its troops deployed in DRC under a special agreement with Kinshasa to hunt down Allied Democratic Forces rebels holed up in eastern DRC.
“The ongoing operations are normally reviewed after every two months by CDFs who then make recommendations to ministers of Defence,” according to Uganda government.
Aside from ADF rebel forces, there is a militant group from Rwanda — the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda largely composed of perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against Tutsi which claimed over a million lives.
The FDLR is designated as a terrorist organisation. It is responsible for deaths of thousands of congolese civilians according to the UN.
The continued presence of FDLR and support it enjoys from the Kinshasa government remains a major security concern by Kigali. It is this FDLR-Kinshasa relationship that continues to flare tension between the two countries.
Apart from the ADF and FDLR, there are hundreds of armed rebel groups operating in Eastern DRC both local and foreing.
M23 rebels, a mostly Congolese group has staged a tough war against the congolese national troops effectively taking control of vast areas including the border town of Bunagana.
The M23 rebels accuse the DRC government of failing to honour an agreement to integrate its fighters into the army.
The increase in violence has alarmed the international community, with the African Union appealing for a ceasefire.
Leaders of the East African Community (EAC) agreed in April to establish a joint force to help restore security in the Eastern DRC region.
Kenya is commanding the force, which also includes soldiers from Burundi, Uganda and South Sudan.A Rwandan contingent is deployed along the border, after Kinshasa objected to Kigali’s participation in any operations within the DRC.
