In Uganda, the government’s decision to send troops to the DRC is controversial. The main opposition party, the FDC on Tuesday asked the president to explain to Ugandans the advantages of this deployment.
Two thousand Ugandan soldiers will be deployed east of the ground floor under the banner of the East African regional force, responsible for overseeing the withdrawal of the M23 rebels. Ugandan soldiers are not there to ” combat » the M23, insists Kampala, but to occupy, as a “neutral” force, the positions left by the rebel movement.
An argument that does not really convince the main opposition party. For the opposition, it is above all the poor perception of Uganda in the eyes of the Congolese that worries it. ” Uganda and Rwanda have been accused by the Congolese population of supporting the M23 movement. Sending Ugandan army troops to that country puts them in danger. When you fight against an enemy and the people behind you also attack you, it may cost a lot of Ugandan soldiers their lives fears Fungaroo Kaps Hassan, national secretary of the FDC.
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“We want clear explanations from the president”
Uganda already has hundreds of troops in the DRC, sent in 2021 to fight against ADF rebels. Kampala also intervened in Congo in the 1990s during the Second Congo War, and must now pay reparations for the damage caused by its troops.
Thus, Fungaroo Kaps Hassan fears a new financial abyss for the country. ” Ugandan taxpayers have not yet finished repaying the money looted in the previous war and the government wants to send more troops to Congo to create new conditions for looting? We want clear explanations from President Museveni to justify this deployment. The Ugandan Armed Forces must not become his personal property “, he asserts.
Several tenors of the FDC will meet this Wednesday in the province of West Nile on the border with the DRC to prepare a motion in Parliament against the Ugandan intervention in the DRC. A meeting which coincides with the visit of President Museveni to the region.
Ugandan Chief of Staff in the DRC
And meanwhile, the Ugandan army chief of staff, General Wilson Mbasu Mbadi, is in the DRC to assess ongoing military operations in the east of that country. Passing through Kinshasa, he had two days of exchanges with his Congolese counterpart and especially with the new Congolese Minister of Defense, Jean-Pierre Bemba.
General Wilson Mbasu presented Jean-Pierre Bemba with his country’s vision for operations in eastern DRC. Very little has filtered from their exchanges. However, a military source specifies that particular emphasis was placed on the behavior to be displayed by troops deployed in areas under M23 control, in Rutshuru territory including Bunagana, Rwanguba and Tchengerero.
General Wilson Mbasu also presented the main challenges facing his troops fighting alongside Congolese forces in Operation Shujaa launched against the ADF. Some strongholds of these fighters affiliated with the Islamic State group have been destroyed.
However, the ADF are still active, mainly in the chiefdom of Bashu, in the southern part of Beni territory, and along the northern border of North Kivu where they try to resupply and organize reprisals against civilians. perceived as collaborators of the Congolese and Ugandan forces. This Wednesday will begin in Beni the big evaluation meeting of the fourth phase of these joint operations. These exchanges will be decisive on the next military actions in the region.