Regional troops to counter DR Congo rebel threat

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has called for the deployment of an East African force to restore security in the troubled east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In a statement, he also called for an “immediate cessation of all hostilities for all armed groups, both foreign and local, to lay down arms immediately and unconditionally” amid heavy fighting in recent weeks.

The East African Regional Force is to be deployed immediately to the regions of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu to enforce peace in co-ordination with resident UN forces (Monusco), he said.

He added that a meeting of commanders of the defence forces of East African countries on Sunday in Nairobi “should” finalise preparations for the deployment.

The decision to establish the regional force was made in April when Mr Kenyatta, the current East African Community (EAC) chairman, hosted regional presidents over the DR Congo crisis that also threatens neighbouring countries.

The EAC is made up of seven countries – Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and DR Congo.

More than 100 local and foreign groups operate in South Kivu, North Kivu and Ituri and have destabilised the wider region for more than two decades.

Since March, fighting between the Congolese army and M23 rebels has displaced more than 80,000 people.

DR Congo has accused Rwanda of supporting the group made up of mainly ethnic Congolese Tutsi, but the government in Kigali denies the accusations.