The Ugandan army said on Monday that it will send 1,000 soldiers to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to assist in combat rebels and put an end to decades of turmoil.
A year ago, Uganda dispatched hundreds of soldiers to the DRC to aid in the war against the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a rebel organization that is affiliated with the Islamic State.
Analysts claim that Uganda is making up for its prior participation in the horrific civil conflicts in Congo with these deployments.
Four persons were murdered in suicide strikes in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, in November 2021, and the ADF was held responsible.
After Burundi and Kenya sent hundreds of troops to the DRC in recent weeks, Uganda will be the third nation to send troops there as part of the East African Community force.
By the end of November, according to Brigadier General Felix Kulaigye, spokesman for the army formally known as the Uganda People’s Defense Force.
Every conflict in this area has an impact on others, he added.
So, you can put an end to war if you can prevent it.
There are benefits for everyone.
A 2013 peace agreement that included some M23 (March 23 Movement) rebels in the DRC military collapsed last year.
The fighting restarted, and M23 subsequently pushed the Congolese troops back in the east while also closing close on the city of Goma in recent weeks.
According to the U.N., the war has forced at least 240,000 Ugandans to flee both internally and over the border in the past year.
Alexander Rosero works as a research fellow at the University of Johannesburg’s Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation.
He told VOA via a message service that a regional army ought to be more successful than bilateral agreements.
According to him, the agreements between Uganda and the DRC and Rwanda and the DRC have not been beneficial.
Where diplomacy and dialogue are not given a chance, everyone finally loses, he explained.
“This time, they have a chance to truly fix their errors,” the author said.
In an unexpected move, Uganda paid the DRC $65 million in August to make up for the damages its forces inflicted there during conflicts and occupations in the 1990s.
The DRC was invaded by Uganda from 1998 to 2003, and the International Court of Justice in The Hague ordered Uganda to pay $325 million for that invasion.
While Kinshasa accepted Ugandan soldiers for the East African force, it rejected Rwanda’s and accused Kigali of backing M23 rebels—an allegation it denies—while rejecting Rwanda’s forces.
Despite Kampala’s attempts to make amends, not everyone supports the DRC’s decision to let Ugandan troops operate there.
General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, son of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, made a mistake by endorsing M23 in a tweet on November 6, according to Remy Kasindi, coordinator for the Bukavu-based humanitarian organization Collective Amka Congo.
According to Kasindi, the current problem for Congo is Rwanda’s backing of M23.
Kasindi, however, claimed that the Congolese, who had trusted the Ugandan army, were upset by Museveni’s son’s post.
When Kenya and Rwanda called for M23 to leave the land it just conquered, Kainerugaba appeared to take a little step back on Sunday.
Despite having more than 16,000 people and a 20-year presence in the DRC, U.N. peacekeepers have recently faced violent demonstrations over their inability to provide calm.
VOA
