Kenyan troops arrived in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Goma on Saturday. Local dignitaries and Congolese soldiers in the area greeted them, as their arrival coincided with the M23 rebel group’s advance through the DRC’s North Kivu province, taking large swaths of land and inflaming tensions in the Great Lakes area.
“The instructions of the heads of state, but also the concepts, are very clear. The friends of Kenya are here on a purely offensive mission”, spokesman for the Congolese army in North Kivu, Colonel Guillaume Ndjile stated.
The Kenyan soldiers were sent after Kenya’s parliament approved the deployment of over 900 troops to the DRC.
In June, officials from the East African Community (EAC) suggested putting together a single military force. The regional force will be led by Kenyans. Its total size, however, is unknown.
Lieutenant-colonel Obiero Denis, leader of the battalion deployed in DRC, explained the troops’ mission. “We have a mandate to fulfil and it has four parts,” he told reporters.
“The first is to work together with our colleagues in the FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo) to eradicate the negative forces, and the second is to work with the humanitarian community to assist the internally displaced”, he concluded.
According to the UN’s humanitarian agency, the recent violence in North Kivu has displaced nearly 180,000 people.