By Enyichukwu Enemanna
At least 45 South Sudanese soldiers on Sunday arrived in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, joining a regional military force in an area battered by the M23 rebel group, AFP report says.
The troops landed in the city of Goma in the late morning, with further contingents expected to arrive at later dates.
The South Sudanese soldiers are part of the seven-nation East African Community (EAC) military force, which was created last June to assist in restoring stability in the DRC.
In North Kivu province, M23 rebels have captured swathes of territory and advanced within several dozen kilometres of its capital Goma since re-emerging from dormancy in late 2021.
East African Community comprises Kenyan, Burundian and Ugandan troops as well as South Sudanese and is expected to oversee a planned pull-back of M23 rebels.
“Welcome to Goma,” said Colonel Jok Akech, an officer with the EAC force, addressing the new South Sudanese arrivals.
“Now you are in a different operational environment. You have to be ready”.
It is not yet clear how large the South Sudanese contingent will be, nor where it will deploy. In December, South Sudan said that it would send 750 soldiers to the DRC.
The M23 first came to international prominence in 2012 when it captured Goma, before being driven out and going to ground.
But the Tutsi-led group re-emerged from dormancy in late 2021, arguing that the government had ignored a promise to integrate its fighters into the army.
A ceasefire mediated by Angola was due to take effect on March 7, for example, but collapsed almost immediately.
March 30 was supposed to mark the end of the withdrawal of “all armed groups”, according to a timetable adopted in mid-February by the EAC.
The rebel group remains in control of substantial areas of North Kivu, and has almost completely surrounded Goma, which has Rwanda to its east and Lake Kivu to its south.
