Uganda Sends More Troops To DRC, as Conflict Continues

The Ugandan army confirmed on Sunday that it had sent troops to another town in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo to combat armed groups, amid fears that the ongoing conflict in the DRC could escalate into a full-scale war.

“Our troops have entered Mahagi town and we are in control,” Uganda’s Ministry of Defence and Military Affairs spokesman Felix Kulayigye told AFP on Sunday.

The deployment of the troops was requested by the Congolese army following allegations of civilian killings by a militant group known as the Cooperative for the Development of Congo (Codeco), he said, without giving further details.

Mahagi is in Ituri province, which borders Uganda, where at least 51 people were killed on February 10 by armed men affiliated with Codeco, according to humanitarian and local sources.

Codeco claims to defend the interests of the Lendu community, mainly made up of farmers, against the Hema community, mainly pastoralists.

Uganda already has thousands of troops in other parts of Ituri under an agreement with the Congolese government.

Last month, Uganda announced that its troops had “taken control” of the province’s capital, Bunia.

Ituri is just north of the North and South Kivu provinces, which in late January fell under the control of the M23 rebel group, which is supported by neighboring Rwanda.

Analysts fear that the presence of Uganda and Rwanda in eastern DRC could lead to a repeat of the Second Congo War, which lasted from 1998 to 2003, involving many African countries and causing millions of deaths from violence, disease and famine.

By: BBC