Twenty-four hours after the announcement of the deployment of the South African Development Community (SADC) military force in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the President of the Republic, Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, has spoken publicly for the first time on the reason for this unanimous decision of the African Development Community and particularly on the fate of the East African Community Regional Force.
Speaking to the press during a joint press conference with his counterpart President Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana, , the Head of State, Félix Tshisekedi, clearly stated that the EAC Force is spending its last weeks in the DRC.
According to President Tshisekedi, at the end of the first mandate of the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) in March, the DRC government did not renew the 6-month mandate as requested by the EAC Secretary General. Instead, the DRC granted a 3-month mandate at the end of which a serious evaluation would decide the future of this regional force.
President Tshisekedi revealed that there are clearly problems with the functioning of the EACRF regional force: “The first reason that leads us to ask questions is the mission assigned to this force, which is not being fulfilled”, said President Tshisekedi.
“In certain localities today, there is a cohabitation observed between the forces of the EACRF and M23 terrorists, which was not foreseen in the plan.”, said President Tshisekedi, who also referred to statements by EACRF military officials who, as soon as they arrived in the DRC, clearly said that they had not come to fight the M23.
In addition to this, “there is the commander of the EACRF who resigned in a spectacular manner and to everyone’s surprise, mentioning threats that he never told us about,” added President Tshisekedi.
“Why did he not share with us these threats?”, President Tshisekedi asked himself, who also expressed surprise at the haste with which Kenya appointed the successor to the resigning general without consulting the DRC and other members of the EAC, as if this Force depended only on Kenya, said an angry President Tshisekedi.
“Obviously there is a problem that we need to talk about in order to clarify the situation and as the mandate ends in June 2023, if by that date we see that the mandate is not being fulfilled we will decide to bring back this contingent that came to the rescue of the DRC with honour and to thank them for having tried to bring their contribution to peace in the DRC”, President Félix Tshisekedi said.
The Head of State welcomed the solidarity shown by the SADC countries through the unanimous decision to deploy its Force, which has already proved its worth on Congolese soil.
While concluding that the EAC mission is problematic, President Tshisekedi said he was waiting for the AU quadripartite meeting to be held.
Asked also about the holding of elections in 2023 due to the worrying security situation in the East of the country, the President of the DRC reassured that the electoral process is irreversible and he has no intention of depriving his compatriots in the East of their civic rights.
