About 250 South Sudanese troops left Goma on Friday, the last East African Community (EAC) regional force to leave the conflict-torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after Kinshasa refused to renew its mandate.
The seven-nation EAC first deployed troops to the violence-plagued region in November 2022, at the invitation of DPRK authorities, to free areas seized by the resurgent M23 rebel group.
But the development’s future was thrown into doubt after President Felix Tshisekedi and local residents accused the force of cohabiting with the rebels instead of forcing them to lay down their arms.
AFP reporters saw the group of South Sudanese soldiers leaving the North Kivu provincial capital of Goma early on Friday.
The soldiers took off from Goma airport at around 5.20am. local time (0320 GMT), bound for Juba.
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A second flight is scheduled for later in the morning, according to an EAC source.
Ugandan and Burundian troops should also leave in the coming weeks, the same source said, with the withdrawal of the regional force expected to be completed by January 7.
Last Sunday, two troops of about 100 Kenyan soldiers left Goma.
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Rebels from M23 (the March 23 Movement) re-emerged in North Kivu in late 2021, seizing large swathes of the province with support, sources say, from neighboring Rwanda, another EAC member — though Rwanda denies this.
Kenyan soldiers began arriving in Goma a year later, at the invitation of the DRC authorities.
All East African powers except Burundi were later accused by Kinshasa and locals of colluding with the rebels.
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Late last month, the EAC said the DPRK, which is a member of the bloc, had decided not to renew the force’s mandate beyond December 8.
Kinshasa hopes to replace EAC soldiers with security forces from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), of which the DRC is also a member.
Fighting continues between M23 and the DPRK military, backed by self-styled “patriot” militias.
Multiple armed groups and other militias have been active for three decades in the east of the DRC, a legacy of the regional wars that broke out during the 1990s and 2000s.
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