Hired European nationals fighting alongside the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) in its war against the M23 rebels are said to be causing jealousy within the military as they earn up to $6,000 as native soldiers earn a few hundred dollars. A report by German broadcaster DW has shone a light on the workings of the European mercenaries fighting in conflict-ridden North Kivu province. ALSO READ: Romanian mercenaries killed in DR Congo DW tells the story of a one Colonel Romuald, a retired French paratrooper who heads a 20-member team of a Bulgarian private security company called Agemira. Romuald, who served in the French army for 36 years, is now based in Goma, the capital of North Kivu and his team “advises the Congolese army on how to combat the rebel M23 militia and bring order to its ranks,” according to the report. The report said that Agemira, which was hired by the Congolese government two years ago, also maintains aircraft and drone fleets, and delivers supplies to the soldiers and facilitates arms deals. ALSO READ: Inside Kinshasa’s plan to hire American mercenaries to fight M23 Besides Agemira, the Congolese government also hired a Romanian military company known by the initials RALF. The Romanian company has about 800 fighters in DR Congo. Many of the RALF members have served in the French Foreign Legion. The RALF fighters, who call themselves “Romeos,” are stationed around Goma and the town of Sake, according to the report. ALSO READ: Rwanda concerned over 2,000 mercenaries in DR Congo, Kinshasa-backed FDLR Earlier reports indicated that there could be about 2000 European mercenaries operating in eastern DR Congo. The Congolese government has previously described the Europeans serving within the FARDC ranks as ‘consultants,’ after criticisms of its using mercenaries, which is illegal according to the United Nations. A UN Group of Experts report in March, indicated that in 2023, the Congolese government sought to hire 2,500 military contractors through negotiations led by Erik Prince, the founder of a US security company formerly known as Blackwater. The negotiations, which would bring Latin American contractors to Eastern DR Congo, did not materialize. The FARDC coalition against M23 rebels is made up of government forces, the mercenaries, Burundian soldiers, troops from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the FDLR militia and its allied groups who are known as Wazalendo. ALSO READ: Rwanda raises concerns over DR Congo arming FDLR, indigenous armed groups The European mercenaries are paid between $5,000 and $6,000, which dwarfs the pay Congolese soldiers get, the report said. However, other sources indicate that the pay could be much more in some instances. That's many times more than the few hundred dollars Congolese soldiers earn, Onesphore Sematumba, a Congolese analyst at the International Crisis Group in Nairobi, was quoted as saying. The preferential treatment given to the foreign fighters, who “stay in hotels or villas and drive around in new army vehicles, while the Congolese soldiers have to walk,” the report said, caused “jealousy” with the FARDC ranks. “An Agemira security official also admitted to this while enjoying the evening in a restaurant on Lake Kivu.” Sematumba said however that the investment in the foreign mercenaries was “not really making a difference. Mercenarism in criminal in Europe. Romuald claimed that the Europeans in DR Congo were “not mercenaries,” and that they were “not in it for the money,” adding that he considered himself a consultant. The DW report claimed that the Agemira elements did not carry weapons and that the RALF members “may have guns but would only fight defensively if Goma or Sake were attacked.”
