DRC: Angolan contingent to support peacekeeping operations

Children play on an abandoned M23 tank in the Goma region (illustration).

Mission of the Angolans: to secure the cantonment areas of the M23 and to protect the members of the team responsible for monitoring compliance with the ceasefire.

REUTERS/Kenny Katombe

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Insecurity in eastern DRC: Angola will send a contingent to support peacekeeping operations.

The Angolan presidency announced it yesterday, Saturday, March 11, in a statement.

According to Luanda, this decision was taken after consultations with Kinshasa;

the UN and other leaders in the region have been briefed on this initiative.

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With our correspondent in Kinshasa,

Kamanda wa Kamanda Muzembe

According to the statement published on the Facebook account of the Angolan presidency, the main mission of this unit will be to secure the cantonment areas of the M23 and to protect the members of the team responsible for monitoring compliance with the ceasefire.

No details were given on the number of Angolan soldiers who will be sent to eastern DRC.

Frame

The initiative is part of the various meetings on the peace and security process, meetings in which Luanda plays the role of mediator.

In July 2022, during the ICGLR summit, an Angolan general officer was appointed to head the

ad hoc

verification mechanism .

A device intended to investigate reciprocal accusations between the DRC and Rwanda as well as allegations of violation of the border between the two neighbors.

experts

This system also includes a team of three Angolan experts based in the city of Goma, and supported by the joint extended verification mechanism of the ICGLR and Monusco.

The deployment still needs to be approved by the Angolan parliament.

This is not the first time that Angola has intervened in the DRC.

At the time, in the 1990s, Luanda intervened alongside President Laurent-Désiré Kabila.

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