BY WARYOBA YANKAMI
16th April 2013
The Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) has said its aim of going to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is not to fight a war but to keep peace.
Speaking in an interview with The Guardian yesterday TPDF director of Information and Public Relations, Lt Col Kapambala Mgawe said that if Tanzanian troops would be attacked by the M23 rebels, they will not hesitate to answer.
He said under the United Nations Resolution 2098 of March 28, this year, if peace keeping forces in the DRC are provoked in the course of guarding peace, they are mandated to defend themselves.
“We are not going to the Congo the way we did when we fought Iddi Amin in Uganda in 1978/79. We are going to the DRC to keep peace and ensure that our brethren there also get a chance to see peace. We are not going there to fight a war,” the army spokesperson said.
He said Tanzania peacekeepers have had good records in the missions they have been assigned all over the world including Lebanon and Darfur in Sudan.Speaking in an interview with The Guardian yesterday TPDF director of Information and Public Relations, Lt Col Kapambala Mgawe said that if Tanzanian troops would be attacked by the M23 rebels, they will not hesitate to answer.
He said under the United Nations Resolution 2098 of March 28, this year, if peace keeping forces in the DRC are provoked in the course of guarding peace, they are mandated to defend themselves.
“We are not going to the Congo the way we did when we fought Iddi Amin in Uganda in 1978/79. We are going to the DRC to keep peace and ensure that our brethren there also get a chance to see peace. We are not going there to fight a war,” the army spokesperson said.
He said even those who died there (in Lebanon and Darfur) were not killed but they died of other causes, not by being attacked by those who took them as opponents.
He said Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo are not only neighbours but they are also friendly countries.
Earlier, speaking in the morning Director of Information Assah Mambwene said Tanzania will send its troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) any time from now despite threats by the M23 that any armies sent to the central African state would be dealt with accordingly.
Mambwene said at least Tanzania's 800 troops will land in the DRC any time from now, adding that the East African country will not be wavered by any threats from the rebellious group.
The Tanzanian troops will join their counterparts from South Africa and Malawi to provide a balance to the already prevailing United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in DR Congo (MONUSCO).
The country has suffered years of conflict with the M23 launching the latest rebellion in April 2012.
Tanzania, Malawi and South Africa decided to send troops to the DRC after complaints by the Great Lakes nations that the present UN forces have been doing little to bring about peace in that central African country.
About three weeks ago, the M23 issued threats to Tanzania, South Africa and Malawi, saying if they send in troops to DR Congo, they will be attacked by the mutinous group.
South Africa for its part has said that despite the killing of some of its soldiers serving in Central African Republic, it still will send troops to the DRC under the UN mission.
At the end of last year, the M23 group attacked the army in the eastern DRC and occupied the area's biggest capital of Goma, causing outflow of refugees. The rebel group later pulled out of the town under the pressure from regional countries.
Tanzania has major concerns in the ongoing civil strife in DR Congo, as instability in that part of the continent acts as the cradle of refugee creation. In the presence of war, most of the refugees cross the border to Tanzania to seek asylum.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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