NAIROBI — The leaders of
seven nations comprising the East African Community bloc will meet Monday to
discuss the security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s
violence-torn east, the Kenyan presidency said.اضافة اعلان
The meeting comes
as heavy fighting revives decades-old animosities between Kinshasa and Kigali,
with the DRC blaming neighboring Rwanda for the recent resurgence of the M23
rebel group.
Rwanda has
repeatedly denied backing the rebels while both countries have accused each
other of carrying out cross-border shelling.
People in the
eastern DRC “have long suffered and continue to pay an inordinately heavy price
in loss of lives, property and elusive peace,” the Kenyan presidency said in a
statement announcing Monday’s meeting in Nairobi.
On Wednesday,
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta called for the deployment of a regional EAC
force in eastern DRC to restore peace, but Kinshasa said it would not accept
Rwanda’s participation in the operation.
DRC President Felix
Tshisekedi has accused Rwanda of seeking “to occupy our land, rich in gold,
coltan, and cobalt, for their own exploitation and profit” and urged the
international community to condemn Kigali.
Regional commanders
of the EAC were expected to meet on Sunday to finalise preparations for the
deployment of the joint force.
A UN force, known
by its French acronym MONUSCO, is already operating in the DRC.
Kenyatta said the
regional force will work alongside local provincial authorities and in close
coordination with MONUSCO to disarm anyone bearing illegal firearms.
The mineral-rich
DRC is struggling to contain dozens of armed groups in the east of the vast
nation, many of which are a legacy of two regional wars a quarter of a century
ago.
A primarily
Congolese Tutsi militia, the M23 or “March 23 Movement” this week claimed
control of the key town of Bunagana, forcing thousands to flee their homes.
The militia leapt
to global prominence in 2012 when it captured Goma.
It was forced out
shortly afterwards in a joint offensive by UN troops and the Congolese army.
The group took up
arms again in late November having accused the Kinshasa government of failing
to respect a 2009 agreement that involved incorporating its fighters into the
army.
Relations between
Kinshasa and Kigali have been strained since the mass arrival in the DRC of
Rwandan Hutus accused of slaughtering Tutsis during the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
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