Congo Recalls Envoys to Kenya and Tanzania

Sudan Events – Sumaya Sayed

Democratic Republic of Congo recalled its ambassadors from Kenya and Tanzania for consultations on Saturday after a new Congolese military alliance that includes rebels was launched in the Kenyan capital.
Alain Tshibanda, spokesperson for Congo’s foreign ministry, made the announcement on the X platform.
Earlier on Saturday, the Kenyan embassy’s head of mission had been summoned to the foreign ministry in Kinshasa. The Kenyan government could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Congolese politicians and groups including the M23 rebels, who have seized territory in eastern Congo, and Corneille Nangaa, a former Congo election commission chief, launched the Congo River Alliance in Nairobi.
Nangaa, who was sanctioned by the U.S. for corruption and obstructing the 2018 election, said the alliance would bring together various Congolese armed groups, militias, social and political organisations.
Congo is due to hold presidential and legislative elections on Dec. 20.
The new alliance is an additional concern in a region where insecurity has persisted for decades, fuelled by ethnic rivalries and a tussle over land and resources with regional implications.
Bintou Keita, head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo (MONUSCO), said in a post on X that she was “extremely concerned by the creation of a new political-military platform”.