Hours after a memo emerged indicating that the former Kenyan commander of the East African Community regional force in DR Congo, Maj Gen Jeff Nyagah, stepped down due to "an aggravated threat" to his safety, Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) seem to be refuting his resignation.
Gen Nyagah headed the East African Community regional force (EACRF) deployed in eastern DR Congo since its deployment in November 2022.
The KDF branded his memo as fake. That was about 10 hours after regional and international newspapers, including major newspapers in Kenya, carried the story about Nyagah's resignation. In an April 27 letter to EAC Secretary General, Peter Mathuki, the Kenyan military officer noted that there was "a systematic plan to frustrate efforts of the EACRF."
On Friday night, KDF tweeted: "Our attention is drawn to the factitious letter below with spurious claims."
Our attention is drawn to the factitious letter below with spurious claims. https://t.co/WlNFlpMgaV pic.twitter.com/gjGXCPttyq-- Kenya Defence Forces (@kdfinfo) April 28, 2023
The Kenyan army earlier said President William Ruto appointed another officer - Maj Gen Alphaxard Muthuri Kiugu - as the commander of the EAC regional force, replacing Gen Nyagah. In a related development, Gen Nyagah was appointed General Officer of West Command, in Kenya.
In the April 27 memo, Nyagah indicated that "there was an attempt to intimidate my security at my former residence by deploying foreign military contractors (mercenaries) who placed monitoring devices, flew drones and conducted physical surveillance of my residence in early January 2023 forcing me to relocate."
Well-orchestrated and financed negative media campaigns
Since December 2022, the regional force had occupied regions of eastern DR Congo's North Kivu province which were vacated by the M23 rebels, in compliance with the Luanda agreement signed in the Angolan capital.
The regional force, EACRF, has troops from Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and South Sudan.
Nyagah explained that there have been "well-orchestrated and financed negative media campaigns targeted at my personality and direct written false accusations of EACRF's complacency on the handling of the M23 group."
"This is further enhanced by the current push by the government of DRC to have the FC [Force Commander] rotated every three (3) months which was not envisioned in the current mandate."
Additionally, he said, the recent suspension of the EACRF Facebook Account was an "indication of possible sabotage of the Regional Force efforts."
"This is equally compounded by the government of [DR Congo's] failure to pay administrative cost including Force Headquarters Offices, Staff Officers accommodation, electricity as well as salaries for civilian staff as per the Status of Force Agreement (SOFA)."
"It is with this in mind and further assessment that I have come to the conclusion that my security as the Force Commander is not guaranteed within the operation area," Nyagah wrote.
He thus noted that the ongoing frustration has "rendered my mission untenable" hence the precautionary decision to exit the mission area. Despite its gains in securing the M23 withdrawal, the regional force has faced mounting pressure from Congolese elites and civil society, who want it to fight the M23 rebels.
Misalignment between EACRF's objectives and Kinshasa's wishes
In February, at an extraordinary summit of the EAC Heads of State held in Bujumbura, Burundi, DR Congo's President Félix Tshisekedi was captured on video confronting Gen Nyagah, in the presence of Kenyan President William Ruto. In the Burundian capital, a visibly infuriated Tshisekedi told Gen Nyagah to fight the M23 rebels or risk the wrath of the Congolese population.
"The objectives of EACRF and the expectations of the Congolese government are mismatched or misaligned," Frederick Golooba-Mutebi, a political scientist and researcher, told The New Times.
"The EACRF is in DR Congo to keep peace. The DR Congo government expected them and wanted them to fight the M23. I do not see an easy meeting of minds on EACRF's role."
Commenting on the KDF claim that Nyagah's letter is "factitious," Golooba said: "How do we know for sure whether it's fake or not?"
"The fact is," he said, "there is a misalignment between EACRF's objectives and the wishes of the DR Congo government."
In Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, where the EAC force is headquartered, protests against the regional military mission which was established to try find a lasting solution to the crisis have been staged several times.
The EAC has indicated that it is committed to the restoration of peace and security in eastern DR Congo. But Kinshasa has rejected all proposals for peace talks with the M23 rebels and doubled down on war rhetoric. Regional leaders are prioritising non-military action as reiterated by Mathuki, during an African Union event in Nairobi on January 19.
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"Our intention is not to engage in combat or have our region at war, but to see how we all live in peace. The process in Eastern DRC has to be solved through political processes; our military are there to reinforce the political process," Mathuki told journalists.
Under the Luanda agreement signed in November 2022, DR Congo was tasked with disarming armed groups including the genocidal FDLR militia from Rwanda and ceasing hostilities. Reports indicate that, instead, the genocidal militia was integrated into the Congolese army along with other local Congolese militia groups and mercenaries from overseas who are being used to stir trouble.
The FDLR, a UN sanctioned genocidal group based in eastern DR Congo for close to three decades, was formed by the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. It is at the heart of the insecurity affecting eastern DR Congo and the region.
In January, Kinshasa unilaterally expelled Rwandan officers who worked in the regional force headquarters, a move the EAC said was concerned about in part due to the fact that the officers enjoyed immunity.
