The East Africa Community (EAC) heads of state have passed the decision to deploy a regional force to the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo in order to restore peace and stabilize the region.
The decision to deploy an EAC regional force was arrived at during the third EAC heads of state conclave on the Inter-Congolese dialogue of the Nairobi process on the peace and security situation in eastern DRC.
The force will work in cooperation with the military and administrative forces of the DRC. As the force awaits deployment an immediate ceasefire should be enforced in the region that is marred by violence orchestrated by various rebel groups including ISCAP jihadists.
The regional force will be placed under the military command of Kenya and as tension run high between DRC and Rwanda, Kinshasa has said that the force shouldn’t include the Rwandan military.
While the technical nitty-gritty of the force like the size of the force and financing of the force people are cautiously optimistic that the force will aid in remedying the decades-long crisis. The regional force will join MONUSCO, and the SADC-led Force Intervention Brigade (FIB), a special component of the UN stabilization mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as the UPDF contingent already deployed in Beni and Ituri.
S.I. Analysts maintain that while the regional force is necessary especially as ISCAP and M23 seem to have resurged, the tensions between DRC and Rwanda could hinder the success of the force. Additionally, in recent years the discontentment of the civilians in North Kivu and Ituri is at an all-time high, and as such a military solution that is not backed by political, social, and reconciliation strategies will almost certainly fail.
