Ten countries for DRC peacekeeping - Kiyonga
By John Nzinjah
A total of 10 countries in the Great Lakes region have resolved to form a joint force of 4,000 troops to contain the insurgency in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Defence Minister Dr. Crispus Kiyonga has confirmed.
"The countries to contribute to the force include Angola, Namibia, Congo Brazzaville, South Sudan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, Burundi and the DRC itself," Kiyonga said.
That is a hell of an unwieldy force make up. Tanzania is going to have fun commanding the force. Interesting Rwanda and Uganda are committing troops. What has happened to Zimbabwe ? They are usually up for pillaging opportunities.
He said this while officiating at the passing out of 350 youths at the end of a two-week military and patriotism course at Kisinga Vocational Secondary School in Kisinga sub-county Kasese district on Monday.
Will blog about that separately.
He said the force would operate under the command of Tanzania.
The current insurgency in the eastern DRC broke out in April this year when the M23 rebels mutinied and deserted from the country's army causing over 500,000 people to flee from their homes in the ensuing unrest.
Addressing himself to the youthful cadres, the minister warned them against supporting elements that may want to change government by the use of force.
How ironic.
He advised them to be supportive of ideas which are pro Pan-Africanism and regional integration for faster economic and social development of the African people.
He urged them to use the skills and knowledge they had acquired during the military and patriotism course to ensure that corruption is routed out the country.
Kiyonga said that among the ten reasons the NRA/M waged a bush war was to fight corruption that existed in the former governments.
Been thinking about this , New Vision seems a strange place for this to break and Dr Kiyonga does it at an obsure school military cadet scheme graduation. Why not M7 ? It has dramatic potential and he is the chair of ICGLR there is a huge UN budget appropriation for this mission.
ReplyDeleteTanzania is leading this mission yet nothing in their online newspapers I can see. I blogged ( next entry) about the cadet graduation and the blogger who posted it didn't mention it. This is a big story yet it is being ignored. Why ?