In a significant development, Uganda’s military confirmed on Tuesday that it had deployed troops to the town of Bunia in the restive eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The deployment is done at a time when Rwanda-backed M23 rebel forces have been gaining ground in the adjoining North and South Kivu provinces, complicating the already tense security situation in the region.
Felix Kulayigye, spokesman for the Ugandan military, said Uganda intervened to halt militia forces carrying out massacres in the area. “We have deployed our troops in Bunia. There were massacres being conducted by some of the militia groups, and we met with our Congolese friends and agreed to carry out joint operations to avert loss of lives,” Kulayigye told AFP. This deployment is a significant increase of Uganda’s military activity in the area, where it has had a troop presence for several years, and largely backed Congolese forces in fighting the Islamist-linked Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).
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Bunia is the capital of Ituri province, which has a large Ugandan troop presence already, having deployed thousands of soldiers to fight against Islamist extremists linked with the Islamic State. However, Ugandan troops present in the region are contentious as Uganda has been accused by United Nations officials and other experts of complicity in the war. Certain allegations mention that Uganda supported the M23 rebels and confiscated precious mining property in the region, although Uganda vigorously denied the accusations.
The deployment follows a harsh warning issued by General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the head of Uganda’s armed forces, on social media. On Saturday, Kainerugaba gave an ultimatum to local militias in Bunia, demanding they surrender their weapons within 24 hours or face attack. “I’m giving exactly 24 hours for all forces in Bunia to surrender their arms! If they don’t, we shall attack them as enemies,” Kainerugaba posted on social platform X. Kainerugaba, long known for incendiary and sometimes inflammatory postings on social media, has posted contentious comments previously about possible military attacks on regional countries like Kenya and Sudan, although he describes many of his postings as satirical.
This new Ugandan military incursion is merely a component of a larger, more complex web of regional conflict. Experts have expressed concerns that greater interference by additional foreign powers in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern region may mirror what occurred in the lead-up to the Second Congo War of 1998. During that war, Uganda and Rwanda supported each other’s rebel armies, and thus a war involving numerous African nations ensued, leaving much devastation in its trail, including massive starvation and millions of deaths.
The reasons behind Uganda’s increasing military footprint in the DRC are multifaceted. On one side, Uganda is committed to confronting local militia groups that have ravaged civilians, particularly in regions like Ituri. On another side, Uganda’s involvement is discredited by accusations of self-interest in the DRC’s rich natural resources, such as gold and cobalt, which have contributed to conflict and attracted external powers for decades.
In a further development on Tuesday, Reuters reported that Burundi, which has also had a military presence in eastern DRC, was withdrawing its troops. Burundian forces had been assisting Congolese forces in fighting the M23 rebels. The withdrawal of Burundian forces is added to the uncertainty of the military equation in the region, which is already faced with a range of armed groups vying for control of the mineral-rich territory.
The M23 rebellion has posed a serious challenge to the Congolese state, with the insurgents advancing in the eastern provinces and promising to destabilize the area even more. M23, the most prominent of more than 100 active rebel groups in the region, has been capturing strategic towns and cities, including Goma and Bukavu provincial capitals. As of Tuesday, the M23 rebels were said to be advancing towards the city of Butembo, just two weeks after they captured Goma, a strategic regional hub.
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Apart from the military clashes, the eastern DRC crisis has also raised alarm over grave human rights abuses. The United Nations condemned the M23 rebels’ actions, with UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Turk accusing the group of attacking civilians. In a statement, Turk said that M23 rebels were responsible for the summary killings of children in Bukavu city, among other hospital and warehouses with humanitarian supplies attacks. UN agencies have also raised an alarm over the recruitment of child soldiers by both Congolese government forces and the M23 rebels.
Such developments occur, and fears arise that the DRC may disintegrate into bits as armed factions, foreign interventions, and interested actors reinforce each other to intensify the war. The vastness of natural mineral reserves in the area, on which global industries heavily depend, make the warfare complex because local and international interests fight over gaining access to such natural resources.
The status remains uncertain, with ongoing military activities that have multiple actors involved and a high likelihood of further escalations. With the ongoing violence, eastern DRC’s citizens are trapped in misery, their future uncertain as foreign militaries and militia groups clash over power. The coming weeks might prove decisive in determining whether the area can stabilize or whether the destructive pattern of violence and warfare gets increasingly out of control.
As Uganda’s army advances deeper into the region and the M23 rebels launch their advances, the future of eastern DRC hangs in delicate balance with a majority of observers saying that everything can only improve from here, but not that soon. The world watches eagerly as the conflicts unfold in search of a settlement that will bring long-term peace to a region long plagued by strife.
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Contributed by Janet Alpha from Ekiti State and Edited by Mr. Chibueze Onwuka