An unnamed Southern African country is said to have paid a Ugandan military official to monitor Ugandan army communications, reports said on Monday, February 3.

According to journalist Andrew Mwenda, the country, which is a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), paid $300,000 to the Chief of Communications and IT of the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF), to "monitor army communications.”

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Mwenda, who said he had talked to UPDF Chief of Defence Forces Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, revealed that the military official had been arrested and ordered to "pay all the money back to UPDF.”

However, Mwenda did not reveal the name of the SADC country in question.

https://x.com/AndrewMwenda/status/1886377179438559739?s=19

The development follows an escalation in the conflict in eastern DR Congo, where the SADC region deployed thousands of troops to fight alongside the Congolese government coalition against the M23 rebels. The SADC bloc has 16 member states.

The South Africa-led SADC mission, which also has troops from Malawi and Tanzania, suffered losses in the past two weeks, with at least 13 South African soldiers killed as the M23 rebels advanced toward the strategic city of Goma before capturing it on January 27.

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South Africa has over 1,500 troops in DR Congo under the SADC mission, fighting alongside the Congolese army (FARDC), Burundian forces, and armed groups such as the genocidal FDLR and Wazalendo as well as European mercenaries against M23 rebel group.

The escalation in hostilities also led to a diplomatic rift between Rwanda and South Africa after President Cyril Ramaphosa accused the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) of supporting M23 rebels and killing the South African soldiers – a development that prompted a strong response from President Paul Kagame.

Ramaphosa has since faced growing pressure to withdraw the South African soldiers, with opposition politician Julius Malema saying South Africa’s "role of peace in the DRC is questionable” and its soldiers were "not in DRC to pursue peace.”

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The Rwandan government has long questioned the intentions of South Africa-led SADC mission in DR Congo, whose president has vowed to cause a regime change in Rwanda.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said on Saturday that before the M23 rebels captured Goma, the SADC mission in eastern DR Congo, along with the Congolese government coalition, had plans to "bring war to Rwanda.”

"Recent information coming from Goma on what has been discovered, and the documentary evidence of attack preparations, planned together with the foreign forces fighting in eastern DRC, including the FDLR, indicate that combat objectives were not limited to defeating M23, but also attacking Rwanda,” the ministry said in a statement.