EAC chief plays down on-going clashes in eastern DR Congo

Arusha. The East African Community (EAC) has played down a conflict in eastern DR Congo pitting the government forces and an armed outfit called M23.

Secretary general Peter Mathuki said he believes the crisis will be over soon once preventive diplomacy is applied. He said the seven-nation regional body has elaborate conflict resolution mechanisms to apply in the wake of such conflicts.

He concurred, when he addressed a hybrid press conference, that insecurity was enemy number one of the Community seeking full integration.

“No business will thrive in an environment which is not peaceful,” he told journalists at the EAC headquarters and those hooked online.

Although he could not say exactly what the EAC was doing on the matter, Dr Mathuki assured that there was “a political goodwill” from the regional leaders. The eastern rim of giant DR Congo has been a theatre of armed conflicts involving various armed militia groups for decades.

One of them M23 resurfaced recently causing havoc in North Kivu following bloody clashes between it and the Kinshasa government troops.

Dr Mathuki used the virtual forum dubbed ‘State of the EAC Forum -SG’s One Year in Office’ to articulate progress made and the challenges ahead.

However, a number of journalists present and those calling through online platforms were keen on what the EAC was doing on escalating insecurity in eastern Congo.

The EAC boss was categorical that peace and security remained “ a top priority” for the expanding EAC which recently admitted DR Congo as its seventh member.

“Do not panic over the turmoil in eastern DRC. The crisis will be over,” he pointed out, expressing his determination for a peaceful EA.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), at least five million people have been displaced in the recent violence in eastern Congo.

The resurgence of M23 and resultant clashes with DR Congo troops has once again brought the new member of the EAC on a collision course with Rwanda. Kinshasa maintained that M23 is being supported by its eastern neighbour, a charge Kigali has repeatedly denied.

Only a week ago, DRC banned RwandAir from landing in any of its three destinations of Kinshasa, Lubumbashi and Goma.

The East African Business Council (EABC), an apex body of private sector associations in the region, wants urgent intervention to end the crisis.

EABC executive director John Bosco Kalisa said businesses are already impacted by the stand off, citing the ban imposed on RwandAir flights to DRC.

He said although the business body was non-partisan in the crisis, allegations often made against Rwanda “are not founded on strong and justifiable evidence”.

EABC, he said, would reach out to the business community in DRC through an entity called the Federation of Enterprises in Congo (FEC) to seek ways that would ensure the businesses are not hurt.