CAO regional force commander resigns after accusing DRC of smear campaign

28 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The commander of the East African Community (EAC) regional force, Jeff Nyagah, has resigned after accusing the Congolese authorities of carrying out a smear campaign against him in the context of clashes with the Congolese rebel group. of the March 23 Movement (M23) in the province of North Kivu.

Nyagah has sent a letter of resignation to the EAC General Secretariat in which he denounces that the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) does not cover the administrative expenses of the offices of the regional force and has carried out a smear campaign media against him.

He also states that a group of mercenaries installed surveillance devices to monitor his home in January, so his security at the head of the CAO regional force “is not guaranteed,” the Actualité news portal has reported.

“There has been a well orchestrated and financed negative media campaign, directed against my personality, as well as a directly written false accusation of the alleged complacency of the regional force on the M23 group,” he explained.

Kinshasa has previously accused Nyagah of being lax on the M23 for failing to hold Rwanda responsible and attacking rebel forces on the ground, for which he would have asked Kenya to leave the body.

The CAO troops are made up of forces from Uganda, South Sudan, Burundi and Kenya who are trying to de-escalate the violence in the North Kivu province to promote a process of talks that is increasingly far from taking place.

The M23 is a rebel group made up mainly of Congolese Tutsis and operating mainly in the North Kivu province. Following a conflict between 2012 and 2013, the RDC and the group signed a peace agreement in December. In these combats, the Congolese Army had the support of United Nations troops.

The group launched a new offensive in October 2022, intensified as of November, which has caused a diplomatic crisis between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda over their role in the conflict. UN experts pointed out in December to the existence of “substantial evidence” of “direct intervention” by the Rwandan Army in the conflict.

For its part, Rwanda has accused the Congolese authorities of supporting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a rebel armed group founded and composed mainly of Hutus responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Kigali also accuses Kinshasa of using the Mai-Mai militias, Congolese nationalist militias formed to defend their tribal territory against the numerous rebel groups active since the 1990s–in the context of the conflict. He has also denounced discrimination and acts of hate against the Tutsi minority in the neighboring country.