•The decision was agreed on Thursday during the 21st extraordinary summit in Bujumbura.
•Tshisekedi had warned that the forces could be dismissed in June because they are not fulfilling their mandate.
Image: COURTESY
The East African regional force (EACRF) deployed to the Eastern DRC will now stay for another six months in the country following the extension of its tenure.
This means the troops will stay until September 8, 2023.
The decision was agreed on Thursday during the 21st extraordinary summit of the EAC heads of state in Bujumbura, Burundi.
President William Ruto and his Burundi counterpart Evariste Ndayishimiye were the only two heads who attended the high-level conference.
DRC's Felix Thsiskedi, Yoweri Museveni (Uganda), Samia Suluhu (Tanzania), Paul Kagame (Rwanda) and Salva Kirr (South Sudan) gave the event wide berth.
They were, however, represented by troops from Kenya, Burundi, Uganda and South Sudan are currently in the country to help secure areas vacated by the M23 rebels.
Their mandate expired in March and their future has been uncertain.
In renewing the term of the troops, the leaders, in a communique, took note of the achievements realised so far hailing them for restoring peace in the country.
"The summit reaffirmed that the security in Eastern DRC can only sustainablely resolved through a political and dialogue process among all the parties," reads the statement in part.
The leaders further resolved to send a military mission to organize the former base of Rumangabo as a cantonment camp for the M23 rebels.
Speaking at the meeting, Ruto said the entry of the troops has yielded "very" positive results.
"It was a good point to take, and now the difficult problem that has been facing the Congo for 20 years, we can confidently say that it is on the way to find a solution," said Ruto.
He also thanked Tshisekedi for facilitating the deployment in the interest of creating an environment of peace and stability in the region.
"Today, we celebrate the ceasefire that has now been held for the last two months and congratulate all the actors that have made this possible," he remarked.
During the meeting, the leaders also agreed on a schedule of how the fighters of groups like M23 and many others in the region are going to be gathered together before they are returned to normal life.
The meeting was convened to review the situation in the West African country.
Thsiskedi had warned that the forces could be dismissed in June because they are not fulfilling their mandate.
Their deployment is contained in the Status of Force Agreement (SOFA).
EACRF agreed on operational boundaries within which each country is to serve in the mission.
Operational boundaries have seen each of the troops given specific sectors which lies in areas vacated by the M23 rebel.
Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta was also commended for his role in the process with the summit directing that he handle all communications with M23.