South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected in Uganda on Monday, April 15, for a two-day working visit in which he will discuss the security crisis in eastern DR Congo with his counterpart Yoweri Museveni.
“The two leaders will discuss regional security and stability, including the situation in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo,” Ramaphosa’s office said in a statement on Sunday. It was noted that from Kampala, the South African leader will proceed to South Sudan to meet President Salva Kiir.
South Africa and Uganda have troops in eastern DR Congo, under different arrangements. South African troops, deployed under a mission of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), fight alongside a coalition led by the Congolese army in the conflict with M23 rebels.
Ugandan troops, deployed under a bilateral arrangement with the Congolese government were deployed to eastern DR Congo to fight ADF, a group linked to the Islamic State.
Ramaphosa’s visit to Uganda follows his stay in Rwanda from April 6-7, during which he discussed the conflict in eastern DR Congo with President Paul Kagame.
Ramaphosa told journalists on April 7 that a political solution was necessary to end the conflict in eastern DR Congo, which has affected diplomatic relations between Kigali and Kinshasa.
The Kinshasa-led coalition includes the FDLR, a terrorist group formed by the remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
Analysts note that by fighting alongside the Congolese armed forces, the South Africa-led SADC mission actually collaborates with the FDLR, which is spreading the genocide ideology in addition to being accused of persecution and hate speech against Congolese Tutsi communities.
The Rwandan government also expressed concerns that SADC’s military involvement in DR Congo could escalate the Kinshasa-M23 conflict into a regional crisis.
The DR Congo-led coalition in North Kivu Province also includes troops from Burundi, eastern European mercenaries, and a host of hundreds other Congolese militia groups.
Eastern DR Congo is home to more than 200 armed groups. The region has been volatile for three decades. Multiple interventions have failed to end the decades of violence.
