KDF heads to DR Congo, one of most dangerous places on Earth

Kenya Defence Forces soldiers will serve under the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC (Monusco). They will be part of a rapid intervention force against groups of murderous militias in the region.

“Kenya will voluntarily be part of the Rapid Intervention Brigade to come and support the FARDC (Congolese army) in order to eradicate insecurity in the east of our country,” President Kenyatta and DRC’s Felix Tshisekedi announced at a joint press conference in Kinshasa last week.

For nearly three decades, eastern Congo has been characterised by insecurity that has led to the displacement of millions. Over 120 armed groups are present in the region, according to the Centre on International Cooperation.

In February, the Italian ambassador to DRC, his bodyguard and their driver were gunned down in the region. President Tshisekedi said Kenya had “volunteered” to support Congolese forces to “eradicate insecurity in eastern DRC”.

Kenyan troops also serve under the African Union Mission to Somalia (Amisom) and the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

In 2016, Kenya suffered its worst attack on its troops in a peacekeeping and enforcement mission after Al-Shabaab militants breached barriers at their camp in El Adde and killed almost a company, which is made up between 80-250 soldiers.

In the same year, Kenya withdrew troops from South Sudan in response to the sacking of the UNMISS commander, Lieutenant General Johnson Ondieki.

In the past, Kenya supported UN missions in the Central African Republic, Sudan, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Chad, Rwanda and DRC.

President Kenyatta’s visit to Kinshasa also earned him a number of crucial trade, defence and security agreements.

The two presidents saw this as an opportunity to respond to critics who have accused the governments in the region of doing little to end rebel presence in the east of the DRC.

Before Tshisekedi, President Joseph Kabila had accused neighbours of funding rebels to loot the nation’s natural resources. Now DRC wants to collaborate with governments to end the loot.

Neither of the two governments nor Monusco has provided timelines or further information on deployment.

Officials, however, said it was a response to secure business links, especially in the east where armed groups have made trading difficult. Long-distance truck drivers say there is great potential in the DRC but need guarantees on security.

“Nobody can deny the role of truck drivers and we thank the President for seeking to address these issues of trade and security,” said David Masinde, Chairman of the Kenya Drivers Association.

“We have always pleaded to governments to look into security across the region, including safety of drivers and treatment at weighbridges.”

The Southern Africa Development Community – the regional bloc to which DRC belongs and who formed the Rapid Intervention Brigade (FIB) under Monusco seven years ago – had always resisted non-members.

The force was formed to provide a quick response to frequent rebel attacks, a departure from the blue helmets of the UN restricted to protection of civilians.

Malawi, South Africa and Tanzania initially contributed troops to target the rebel group M23. The rebels later signed a peace agreement with then-President Kabila in Kenya and were amalgamated in the army, FARDC.

The brigade shifted its focus to the Alliance of Democratic Forces and Hutu rebels based in the DRC as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda. Critics charge that the brigade failed to end the insurgency, with rebels splintering up to launch more attacks, besides looking like a club force of SADC funded by the UN.

“The FIB has not managed to neutralise these other forces. Compared to the M23 which was a conventional armed group, the ADF is mobile, operates across a wide expanse and lacks unified command and control,” says a paper published by the Institute of Security Studies in South Africa.

“The FIB is not equipped to tackle these kinds of armed groups, which raises questions about its mission in the first place.”

The debate has continued at the UN Security Council, even though President Tshisekedi prefers reaching agreements with neighbours to secure the restive eastern DRC.

More than 70 per cent of goods imported from Kenya or through the Port of Mombasa end up in the east. Of the Sh1.8 billion volume of trade between Kenya and DRC last year, the port handled less than 10 per cent of those goods.

George Masafu, Kenya’s Ambassador to the DRC, said Kenya’s volume could go higher if both countries addressed non-tariff barriers, such as a mismatch in customs security and infrastructure.

“DRC is landlocked and depends on foreign ports for trade: Mombasa, Dar es salaam, Durban and Beira in Mozambique. Mombasa handles less than five per cent of the total business to DRC although it is ideally positioned to serve the eastern region of north and south Kivu and oriental provinces almost exclusively,” said Mr Masafu.

“President Tshisekedi is expected to form an effective government with the vision and capacity to implement policies that will meaningfully improve security, governance, and the socio-economic living conditions of the people.”

The two presidents agreed to cooperate on security and defence matters through regional blocs.

“The two leaders affirmed the need for concerted efforts, at bilateral and regional levels including the EAC, ICGLR, SADC, IGAD and other regional mechanisms, to effectively combat terrorism in all its manifestations and implement strategies to combat radicalisation and violent extremism,” the dispatch said on Thursday.

SADC said last December it will accept the proposal by the UN to “realign the current force intervention brigade (FIB) to create headroom for a quick action forces (QRFS) and generate two QRFs from SADC troop contributing countries”.

As Kenya is not a SADC member, it means Nairobi will try pushing further changes to the structure through the UN Security Council, to which it is a member.”

“The UN should support President Tshisekedi’s regional diplomacy, with an emphasis on political reconciliation and economic integration among the DRC’s neighbours as steps to increase security,” said a bulletin from the International Crisis Group, warning the rebels need to be analysed to determine how to deal with them.

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