The ceasefire agreement between the DR Congo armed forces (FARDC) and the M23 rebels was again breached on Tuesday, October 24, according to the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF).
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In a statement, the regional force indicated that the resultant hostile clashes fatally wounded a Kenyan Peacekeeper stationed at Kanyamahoro, near Kibumba, 15 kilometers northeast of Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province.
The EACRF statement reads: "Consequently, investigations to establish circumstances under which this incident occurred have commenced.
"The East African Community Regional Force (EACRF) calls for the return to the ceasefire agreement and cessation of hostilities between the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and the M23 Armed Group. EACRF remains committed to the Protection of Civilians in line with its mandate.”
There was a fragile ceasefire since November 2022 as the M23 rebels withdrew from swathes of territories they earlier captured, handing them over to the regional force, as set by the Nairobi Process on the restoration of peace and stability in eastern DR Congo and the November 2022 Luanda Summit. But fighting erupted on October 1, in eastern DR Congo’s North Kivu Province.
In December 2022, the M23 rebels embarked on a gradual withdrawal from their positions, handing them over control to EACRF.
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Propaganda against the regional force is on the increase in eastern DR Congo and the latest incident comes after two soldiers of a Ugandan EACRF contingent were injured in an ambush by armed men in the conflict-ridden eastern DR Congo, on October 16, along the Bunagana-Rutshuru road in North Kivu Province.
On October 10, the facilitator of the EAC-led peace process for DR Congo, former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta again urged for a "non-military solution” to the conflict between Kinshasa and the M23 rebels but the fighting did not stop.
At the time, M23 spokesperson Laurence Kanyuka accused the Congolese armed forces of launching "genocide-motivated attacks” in Kitshanga, and said that the Congolese government wanted "to jeopardise the peace process.”
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The resumption of hostilities between the M23 rebels and a DR Congo government coalition that comprises militias such as the Rwandan genocidal group, FDLR, as well as Congolese Mai-Mai Nyatura, European mercenaries, and Wazalendo youth groups, and others, raised concern among regional leaders and peace facilitators.
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Based in eastern DR Congo, the FDLR is a genocidal force formed by the masterminds of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
On October 25, Kanyuka issued a statement and, again, called on the region and the international community to "swiftly break their silence over the ongoing massacres” perpetrated by the Congolese government coalition. According to the rebels, the "continued cowardly attacks perpetrated against the civilian population and on M23’s positions” in Kibumba, Buhumba, and surrounding areas on October 24, by the DR Congo government coalition "were purposely planned to cause extensive harm to the civilian population.”
The rebels vowed to continue to defend themselves "and would not hesitate to protect the civilian population subjected to ethnic cleansing or hatred-motivated massacres.”
The East African Community has indicated that it is "proud of the work” so far accomplished by its troops in eastern DR Congo but the newest escalation in the conflict creates more challenges, or worsens already tense security situation.
The regional force has emphasised that it remains committed to the protection of civilians in line with its mandate while upholding professionalism. It has stressed that it has the right to force protection guided by the rules of engagement should EACRF troops be threatened in the course of discharging their duties within the joint operation area in North Kivu Province.
On October 6, military leaders from four regional communities met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to discuss the crisis in eastern DR Congo. They supported the idea of a political solution and urged the parties to come to the negotiating table. Kinshasa has ruled out any possibility of peace talks with the M23 rebels, calling them terrorists.
The Congolese army’s alliance with a host of blacklisted militias, including the FDLR, threatens regional security, Rwanda’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Robert Kayinamura, told the Security Council on October 17.
"The agreements made in Luanda and Nairobi have not been implemented in word and spirit, emphasising a persistent and significant absence of political will to uphold the commitments that were signed,” Kayinamura said.