2023-05-10 22:56:05
The President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Felix Tshisekedi, remarked that the regional force which has come to help restore peace and security in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo within the framework of the African Community de l’Est (CAE) will have to leave Congolese territory definitively following having failed in its mission.
Reports on Wednesday indicate that during a visit to Botswana on May 9, President Tshisekedi said he had issues with the regional force, including Kenya’s appointment of General Kiugu.
“Some regional force contingents made it clear upon arrival that they were not going to fight the M23,” he said.
“There is also the matter of the general commanding the force, General Jeff Nyagah, who dramatically resigned, surprising us all by talking regarding threats – threats he never told us regarding. Why didn’t he tell us regarding these threats? He knows it himself,” Mr. Tshisekedi said.
When General Nyagah decided to leave the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Congolese leader remarked that Kenya had directly appointed another force commander “without consultation, as if this force belonged only to Kenya”.
“It is clear that there is a problem. We need to clarify things,” Tshisekedi said.
The SADC force is separate from the UN Intervention Brigade, to which a number of southern African countries have sent troops.
This brigade helped defeat the M23 rebellion in a previous offensive in 2013, but is expected to withdraw in 2024.
Angola, which is also part of SADC, said in March it would send 500 troops to eastern DRC.
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