UPDF to open Bunagana-Goma a major supply route in eastern DRC

Uganda People's Defence Forces(UPDF) deployed in eastern DR Congo as part of the East African Community regional force(EACRF) will oversee the M23 rebel group’s withdrawal as well as open the Bunagana-Goma main supply route, among its other tasks, the joint force announced on Friday, March 31.

As noted, UPDF troops joining EACRF crossed the Uganda-DR Congo border to deploy in Bunagana, Kiwanja and Mabenthe zones within Rutshuru, "marking a critical milestone and the final phase towards full deployment of the EACRF."

They will oversee M23's sequenced withdrawal, protect civilians and open Bunagana-Goma main supply route.

Bunagana, a major Congolese town at the border with Uganda, fell into the arms of the M23 rebels in June 2022, threatening the passage of goods to Goma, the capital of DR Congo's North Kivu province.

The Ugandan army (UPDF) leadership, on March 29, flagged off a contingent dispatched to eastern DR Congo and Uganda became the third country to contribute to the regional force, after Kenya and Burundi. The Ugandan soldiers officially joined the regional force on Friday.

In a March 30 statement, President Yoweri Museveni – who was responding to media reports that claimed that the Ugandan troops would fight the rebels fighting the Congolese government forces in North Kivu – said that the UPDF will support the peace plan agreed between the Congolese government and the M23, including the rebels’ withdrawal.

He said the soldiers would act as “a neutral force as the Congolese use the time to sort out their political problems.”

Musevein said UPDF’s initial mission is to occupy some of the positions that the M23 rebels already handed over to the East African Force as a neutral force, “instead of the Congolese Army which the M-23 see as enemies or armed opponents in their internal politics.”

Museveni stated: “We are, therefore, going to the Bunagana-Rutshuru area, not in order to fight the M-23, but to act as a neutral force as the Congolese use the time to sort out their political problems.

“Unless we are attacked, we are not there to fight. Fighting may come later if one of the non-state armed groups does not accept peace on what we all regard as reasonable conditions.”

The regional force was first deployed in November 2022. It is mandated to support efforts to stabilize eastern DR Congo