South Sudanese Troops Arrive to Support EAC Peacekeeping Mission in DR Congo

On March 31, a contingent of 1,000 Ugandan soldiers joined the East African Community's (EAC) peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province. EAC officials have clarified that the troops are being sent as a neutral force, rather than to engage in combat against rebel groups in the region.

Under the direction of the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF), the first batch of the South Sudanese army arrived in Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Sunday, according to local media.

The group, consisting of around 40 military personnel, were transported by a Kenyan army plane and will be deployed in Goma for peacekeeping operations.

"As of this Sunday and during the coming week, we begin the deployment of our colleagues from South Sudan who will join the other colleagues already deployed on the ground," Emmanuel Kaputa, deputy commander of the EACRF, told reporters at the Goma airport.

In late December 2022, South Sudan announced its intention to send 750 soldiers to the conflict-ridden region. At present, there are already Kenyan, Burundian and Ugandan soldiers deployed in the DR Congo’s North Kivu province.

The arrival of the South Sudanese army came a few days after the deployment of about 1,000 Ugandan soldiers, according to the media, in the North Kivu territory of Rutshuru. South Sudan is the fourth country, following Kenya, Burundi, and Uganda, to join the EAC regional force, which seeks to end the violence in the DRC's east.

On Sunday, the Ugandan contingent of the East African Community's Regional Force occupied the Congolese town of Bunagana, after the March 23 Movement (M23) rebels had left the area and handed over their bases, according to Captain Kato Ahmad Hassan, military spokesman for the Ugandan contingent.

The regional force was established in June 2022 to intervene in the DRC's east and halt the advance of the Tutsi-led armed formation. In November of that year, a ceasefire deal was clinched, under which M23 insurgents have started withdrawing from some of the positions they captured in the eastern DRC.