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WorldUganda: 1,000 troops to be sent to regional force against M23,DRC

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Uganda: 1,000 troops to be sent to regional force against M23,DRC

Uganda will be the third country to send troops to the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, following contingents from Kenya and Burundi.

Uganda’s army announced on Monday that it will send 1,000 troops to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by the end of the month to join a regional force tasked with ending decades of instability.

The seven East African Community (EAC) countries, which DRC joined this year, agreed in April to form a force to combat militia groups in the country’s east.

Uganda will be the third country to deploy troops, following contingents from Kenya and Burundi, according to Uganda’s army spokesman Felix Kulayigye.

In September, Uganda paid Congo $65m, the first installment of reparations amounting to $325m for losses caused by Ugandan troops occupying Congolese territory in the 1990s.

Eastern DRC already hosts hundreds of Ugandan troops, deployed nearly a year ago under a separate bilateral arrangement to help hunt down the ISIL-allied group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

Despite billions of dollars spent on one of the United Nations’ largest peacekeeping forces, more than 120 armed groups continue to operate across large swathes of eastern Congo, including M23 rebels, which Congo has repeatedly accused Rwanda of supporting. Kigali denies the claims.

The UN says it found evidence contrary to Kigali’s claims.

The M23 have staged a major offensive this year, seizing territory, forcing thousands of people from their homes, and sparking a diplomatic row between Congo and Rwanda.

On Friday, the EAC said Kenya’s former President Uhuru Kenyatta and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame had agreed on the need for M23 rebels to cease fire and withdraw from captured territory.

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