The East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) commander Maj Gen Jeff Nyagah, MONUSCO Force Commander Lieutenant General Marcos De Sá Affonso Da Costa, and the FARDC 3rd Division Commander Lieutenant General Marcel Mbangu on Tuesday, November 22, 2022 held a consultative meeting in Goma.
The meeting acknowledged the necessity for enhancing collaborative approach on operational framework in eastern DRC towards realizing peace and stability.
Later, the EACRF commander had a leadership engagement with North Kivu governor, Lieutenant General Constant Ndima on matters security.
The effort was geared towards close coordination with international organs, state and non-state actors and looking forward to engage humanitarian agencies in enhancing social fabric and peaceful coexistence amongst the population.
Kenya has also sent its troops for a peacekeeping mission in the region, as part of the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF).
Ruto ordered the deployment of 903 soldiers from KDF to join a regional peacekeeping mission EACRF-DRC.
The Kenyan troops will join others from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania on the mission in Eastern DRC.
This comes as M23 rebels and DR Congo troops clash heavily in North Kivu province.
Thousands of people have been displaced in the volatile eastern region of the DRC as fighting between the army and M23 rebels continues.
A mostly Congolese Tutsi group, the M23 (the March 23 Movement) leapt to prominence in 2012 when it briefly captured Goma before being driven out.
After lying dormant for years, the rebels took up arms again in late 2021, claiming the DRC had failed to honour a pledge to integrate them into the army, among other grievances.
The resurgence has ratcheted up diplomatic tensions, with the DRC accusing its smaller neighbour Rwanda of backing the group.
Rwanda denies providing any support for the M23 and accuses the Congolese army of colluding with the Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) — a notorious Hutu rebel movement involved in the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is leading peace talks in the region.
