Understanding EAC intervention in the DRC

The fighting has led to deaths and internal displacement as citizens flee the violence. Under Kenya’s leadership, the East African Community (EAC) has taken bold steps to resolve the crisis in eastern DRC.

The bloc’s diplomatic and military engagement comes after the DRC joined the EAC in March, becoming its seventh member state. Already there are boots on the ground as Kenya has already sent close to 900 soldiers into the country. The decades-long conflict now comprises over 100 active armed groups. Its roots lie in the massive refugee crisis caused by Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, which saw people and armed genocidaires moving into the region.