For months, an East African force established to combat militants in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has declared progress, claiming that the rebels had fled major strongholds and been replaced by its forces.

These cheerful declarations, however, contrast with what is happening on the ground, where the rebels are still at large and more than a million people who their advance has displaced remain in limbo.

The East African Community (EAC) force was formed last year to combat M23 rebels who had captured large swaths of land in eastern DRC. It includes troops from Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, and South Sudan.

Since emerging from dormancy in late 2021, the Tutsi-led M23 has won against the army and rival militias, penetrating the North Kivu region.

PHOTO | COURTESY m23

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The DRC has often accused Rwanda, an EAC member, of supporting the rebels, which Kigali denies.

The United States, numerous other Western countries, and independent UN experts have all concluded that Rwanda supports the insurgents.

The EAC force organized a press excursion to freed territories last week. Despite limitations, an AFP journalist was able to visit and interview residents.

A terrified shopkeeper in Bunagana, a border town that the Ugandan army officially reclaimed from the M23, said that if the rebels found out he was talking to journalists, they would kill him. 

He claimed that The M23 was still there and that The arrival of the EAC soldiers had changed nothing; I was still paying taxes to the M23, adding that the border on the Congolese side was still under rebel control. Residents described the top of a hill near the town as an M23 position a bit further on.

The EAC force organized a press excursion to freed territories last week. Despite limitations, an AFP journalist was able to visit and interview residents.

Despite the EAC force's assurances, traffic on the road to Goma's important city has yet to resume.

"The M23 still patrols this road every day," a merchant beside the N2 highway roughly 20 kilometres west of Bunagana, where Ugandan forces are supposed to operate, claimed.