The security crisis continues to worsen in eastern DRC, and actors in the region have lost trust in each other. Indeed, according to Félix Tshisekedi, who was on a state visit to Botswana, there were problems of cohabitation between the M23 rebels and the contingents of the East African Community (EACRF), deployed to resolve the situation in that part of the country. Faced with this observation, the Congolese president has given the regional force an ultimatum: if they do not obtain good results by June 2023, they will have to leave the territory.
This reaction shows President Tshisekedi’s frustration with the situation and the ineffectiveness of the EACRF mission. Although this disagreement took place a few months before the presidential election, the president expressed his public opinion that many Congolese are demanding the departure of the Ugandan, South Sudanese, Burundian and Kenyan Eacquian troops deployed in the territory.
Since the start of the intervention, relations between the Congolese authorities and the staff of the East African force have been strained. The situation reached a point of no return on April 27, when General Jeff Nyagah, Kenyan commander of the EACRF, was replaced. To the doubts expressed by several Congolese authorities on the effectiveness of the operation, the Kenyan officer responded by blaming political pressure and attempts at intimidation.
CEARF’s mandate is one of the main reasons for these disagreements. Kinshasa demanded from the start a more offensive mandate for the regional force and that it had to fight the M23, but for the now ex-Kenyan commander, priority was given to the political process. This difference in position is irreconcilable for President Tshisekedi who refuses any prospect of dialogue with the M23.
Faced with this situation, the Congolese president seems to want to play the card of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Meeting on May 8 for the summit in Windhoek, Namibia, this sub-regional organization announced the forthcoming deployment of forces to “support the DRC in restoring peace and security in this part of the country”. However, the contours of the operation remain to be defined, such as the date of deployment and the scale of the forces that the SADC countries will contribute to it.
President Tshisekedi seems to have made a geopolitical change of footing by turning to SADC, to which his predecessor Joseph Kabila was very close, and turning his back on CEARF, the bloc on which he had concentrated most of his diplomatic efforts in start of his term. For the Congolese head of state, the FIB should be revitalized, with a view to the gradual withdrawal of the UN mission.
In short, the security situation in eastern DRC requires urgent action that the authorities will have to take quickly.