Tensions continue to rise between East African and Southern African forces deployed in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as M23 rebels continue their preparation to take the city of Goma, the capital of the region.
The Community of East African States (EAC) had decided to extend the mandate of its forces until September. However, the Congolese deputy prime and foreign minister had announced a few days earlier that the mandate of the EAC forces would end in June and that it would not be extended.
At the same time, the mobilization of troops from the Economic Community for the Development of Southern Africa (SADC) – this time with an offensive mandate – is underway to reach North Kivu.
The deployment of these forces could lead to a confrontation between the forces of the EAC and those of the SADC, both invited by the authorities in Kinshasa, and give free rein to an “imported” war.
Faced with this situation, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, and Mbusa Nyamwisi, his colleague for Regional Integration, demanded a “firm condemnation of the CIRGL of any attempt to relaunch the war from the M23 rebels and from Rwanda, its support”.
War specialists also fear that North Kivu will turn into a battleground between the various international forces, creating insecurity that is likely to last much longer.