EDITORIAL: Inclusion in the EAC force a test for SSPDF
On Monday, the East African leaders agreed to send in a regional force to end fighting in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The move was announced by Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta, after the seven-member East African Community held talks in Nairobi to end the volatile situation in the DRC for fear that it might spread to the neighbouring countries.
“The heads of state instructed that the regional force should, in cooperation with the military and administrative forces of the DRC, seek to stabilise and secure peace in the DRC,” President Uhuru Kenyatta’s office said in a statement.
But the statement did not mention whether Rwandan troops would be involved in the regional force despite both DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame being at the meeting hosted by Kenyatta, along with the leaders of Burundi, South Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania’s ambassador to Nairobi.
The leaders signed an agreement for the deployment of an EAC force to restore peace, and military chiefs from the bloc’s seven-member states met on Sunday.
The meeting of the military chiefs from the seven East African member states is a clear sign that the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSDFP) are likely to be included in the regional force meant to restore peace in DRC.
This will also serve as a test for our soldiers who have never served in a regional force to live up to the professionalism of the army. There have been several calls for the need for a professional army, and the time has come when the service of our army is urgently needed to restore peace in the region.
But the question is, do we have professional soldiers to serve as regional forces needed in the region. Apart from other challenges, the language barrier and heinous behaviour could be one of the major challenges likely to hinder the participation of our army in the regional force.
This takes us back to the need for a professional army that can strictly adhere to the laws of the army, including the protection of the lives of civilians.
