DRC: Russian government approves draft military cooperation agreement with Kinshasa
The Russian government has approved a draft military cooperation agreement with the DRC, according to a government resolution published Tuesday on the official legal information portal.
The agreement provides for the organization of exercises and joint exercises, participation and monitoring of exercises at the invitation of relevant agencies, visits to warships and combat aircraft upon invitation or request, training military and other formats of cooperation, Tass said.
In October 2022, Congolese President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo ruled out calling on Russian “mercenaries” from the Wagner group to overcome persistent insecurity in eastern DRC, contrary to what several have done. African countries.
“I know it’s fashionable now… (but) no, we don’t need to use mercenaries”he declared to the British economic newspaper Financial Times (FT) during the FT Africa Summit held in London.
A few months later, however, the Kinshasa government admitted the presence “foreign technical experts” to ensure the deployment of combat aircraft and helicopters.
At the beginning of February, two Romanian “soldiers” died during clashes between the Congolese army and the rebels of the M23 (March 23 Movement) in the province of North Kivu. They worked for a Romanian “private military company” headed by Horatiu Potra, a former member of the French Foreign Legion of Romanian origin.
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