- Uganda is sending 1000 soldiers to the DRC to help fight rebel groups.
- This deployment has been in the works for months.
- Conflict in the East African region has been a negative catalyst to the economic growth in the region.
Uganda has promised to send 1000 soldiers to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This decision follows Kenya’s deployment of troops to the DRC to help combat the rebel group, M23, in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in the DRC. Read the story here.
The Ugandan army, which is already in conflict with the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a rebel group with bases in the country, has noted that it will send about 1,000 troops to the DRC’s eastern Ituri region before the end of the month.
These soldiers being sent to fight are a part of the allied East African force, assembled to tackle some of the 100 different rebel groups based in eastern DR Congo.
According to the Ugandan army spokesman Brig Gen Felix Kulaigye, the group intended for this mission has been in training for months. Plans to train and deploy this unit has been in the works since June of this year.
Since the year began, the Eastern region of Africa has had no shortage of conflict. Violent events have plagued the region and insurgent groups continue to span different borders.
This challenge has added to the already numerous reasons why Sub-Saharan economic growth has been stifled.
Coupled with climate change and global energy crises, violence in the East African region is in retrospect, causing the region’s resources to be spread too thin.
The region’s volatility has even garnered international attention, as the United States has called for a more amicable solution to these conflicts. Read the story here.
Fortunately, leaders in the East African region share the same sentiment as they have scheduled a meeting to discuss plans for smoothing things out. Read the story here.
The East African economy is tightly intertwined. Peace in the region would create a more conducive economic ecosystem, allowing the region to get back on track to being one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
