As part of a phased pullout, a regional military force has evacuated almost a thousand Burundian soldiers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Burundian military announced on Monday. Citing its inefficiency, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Kinshasa has chosen not to extend its mandate.
Hundreds of soldiers from South Sudan and Kenya have already been demobilised by commanders of the East African Community (EAC), a six-country alliance whose mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ended on December 8. More units are expected to follow the Burundian forces shortly.
About a year after the M23 (March 23 Movement) rebel forces captured large portions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North Kivu province in November 2022, the EAC leadership despatched troops to the violent east of the country to retake areas captured by M23, with approval from Kinshasa.
Protests against the troops stationed in Goma, the capital of North Kivu, have been ongoing. Many Congolese think that armed organisations like M23 are inspired by the EAC’s preference for military diplomacy over assault methods. Following the protests, questions were raised about the mission’s future.
President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo encouraged General Jeff Nyagah, the head of the EAC regional forces, to intervene in February.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo announced during an EAC conference last month that it would not be extending the term of the regional force past December 8. Kinshasa has been depending on troops from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to bridge the gap.
According to AFP, Colonel Floribert Biyereke, a spokesman for the Burundian National Defence Force, stated on Sunday that “all the soldiers in this battalion arrived in Burundi.”
Together with Kenyan, South Sudanese, and Burundian soldiers, Ugandan troops are part of the East African army’s mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They are scheduled to depart in the upcoming weeks.
