A draft military cooperation agreement with the Democratic Republic of Congo was approved this week by Moscow. An announcement made on the official website of the Russian government on Tuesday, but few details have yet filtered on the form that this cooperation would take.
2 mins
The announcement of this project was made Tuesday March 5 on the legal information website of the federation of Russia. The press release states that “ The Russian government approved the draft military cooperation agreement with the DRC, presented by the Russian Defense Ministry in coordination with the Russian Foreign Ministry. »
He specifies in particular that the agreement provides for the organization of joint exercises, visits by warships and combat aircraft, and military training as well as other formats of cooperation. On the Congolese side, no more information at the moment.
Use of the Russian Wagner group?
As a reminder, the Congolese Minister of Defense visited Moscow a little two years ago, in August 2022, which had sparked speculation about a possible recourse to the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, to overcome insecurity persistent in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Speculation denied by the president Felix Tshisekedi some months later. Questioned on the subject, he declared to the press: “ I know it’s trendy now, but no, we don’t need to use mercenaries », contrary to what several other African countries have done.
Private military companies
For the past year, two private military companies have been operating alongside the Congolese army in the east of the country. One led by a Frenchman, the other by a Romanian citizen: they are officially responsible for instructing and to support the Congolese army. Asked about their presence a few months ago, President Tshisekedi clarified that they are coaches and not mercenaries.
The DRC has also resumed its military cooperation with the United States by signing an agreement in 2020 which includes, among other things, the training of Congolese officers in the United States. The American ambassador at the time specified that through this agreement, Washington was providing military support to eradicate armed groups in eastern DRC.
Read alsoDRC: the use of more sophisticated weapons and aerial assets by the armed group M23 and Rwanda worries