The Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State of the East African Community (EAC) met in Bujumbura on May 31 to discuss the prevailing security situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. (DRC). The debates focused on the cantonment phase of the armed groups, in particular the March 23 Movement (M23), which became a terrorist organization after the withdrawal from the areas it occupied.
Regarding these armed groups, the Heads of State proposed that the regional force work with the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) to verify the relevance of the Rumangabo camp for the pre-cantonment of the M23 and other organisations, ensuring that local armed groups do not appropriate the ceded areas.
Rumangabo camp, the main military camp in North Kivu province, served in the past as the headquarters of the M23 during the 2012-2013 insurgency. It occupies a strategic position near the road linking the towns of Rutshuru and Goma and lies to the east of Virunga National Park.
For the cantonment of M23 terrorists, the President of the Republic Félix Tshisekedi had proposed that the town of Kindu, in the province of Maniema, serve as a place of withdrawal. He also specified that the men of the M23 agreed to reintegrate into civil society after their disarmament and demobilization. He had announced the dispatch of a contingent of the Angolan army to eastern DRC to ensure the transition, currently slow, of the withdrawal and disarmament of the M23.
Despite guarantees from Angolan President Joao Lourenço, political tensions in the DRC remain high and the displaced are cautiously returning to their villages of origin. The low representation of women in the media, the dysfunctions of the judicial system, the rehabilitation of the international fair of Kinshasa (FIKIN) or the death of Professor Lobo Kanza are part of recent news in the country.
These various issues highlight the challenges that the DRC must still meet to guarantee the stability and socio-economic development of the country.