The last elements of the Kenyan contingent of the East African Community (EAC) Regional Force left Congolese soil on Thursday, December 21.
In total, 89 packed their bags and boarded a plane in Goma, in the North Kivu province, to return to their country.
General Emmanuel Kaputa, the DRC representative within the EACRF and deputy commander of this force thanked Kenya for sending its troops to North Kivu to support the pacification efforts of the region, wishing the Kenyan soldiers a safe return to their country.
He acknowledged:
We have gone through winds and tides, valleys and mountains for the same cause, the restoration of peace. I ask you to observe a minute of silence in memory of one of us who has left us.
General Kaputa also thanked Kenya for contributing to the strength of the East African Community (EAC) by sending its troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo. 'We wish you a safe return to your respective families, to your Kenyan army. Perhaps we will meet again in another regional mission,' added this Congolese officer.
For his part, the commander of the EAC force, Major General Aphanard Muthuri Kiugu, remarked: 'We have just completed our mission here in the city of Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province.
Today, there was still a team here, among others, our staff, our journalists, and a few soldiers. We thank the Congolese government, the population of the North Kivu province, for welcoming us. The 89 soldiers complement the other 300 from the Kenyan contingent who left last November, in addition to the 287 from the South Sudanese contingent of the EAC, also departed during the same month of November.'
Boni Tsala