The situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is of growing concern. As the security crisis develops in the region, relations between the parties involved are increasingly tense. Indeed, Félix Tshisekedi, President of the DRC, recently accused the East African Community (EACRF) of cohabitation with the M23 rebels. As a result, Tshisekedi demanded that the regional force definitively leave Congolese territory in June if the concrete results of its mission are not satisfactory.
This situation illustrates the Congolese Head of State’s frustration with the lack of effectiveness of the EACRF’s efforts to resolve the crisis. Tshisekedi’s ultimatum is also a message to his public opinion and to the voices calling for the departure of the troops making up the East African regional army.
The situation between the Congolese authorities and the headquarters of the East African force has continued to worsen since the first Kenyan soldiers were deployed on the ground in November 2022. The departure of Kenyan General Jeff Nyagah , commander of the EACRF since that same year, marked a further stage in the crisis of confidence between the two parties.
The fundamental divergence in this crisis lies in the exact mandate of the EACRF. The Congolese government wants an offensive mandate for the regional force, which should therefore face the M23. However, for General Nyagah, priority was given to the political process, as the regional force had to help the government resolve the crisis peacefully before considering military action.
Faced with this failure, the Congolese president decided to play the card of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a sub-regional organization which announced the forthcoming deployment of its forces to “support the DRC in restoring peace and security in the East”. This decision illustrates a major geopolitical change for Tshisekedi, who is turning his back on the EACRF – with which he had nevertheless concentrated most of his diplomatic efforts – to move closer to the SADC, to which his predecessor Joseph Kabila was very close.
But as the situation unfolds, time is running out, and the DRC needs to resolve this conflict peacefully and sustainably. The deployment of the SADC could be a solution, but the contours of the future intervention remain to be defined. In the meantime, tensions are likely to worsen in the eastern region of the DRC