Foreign Mercenaries Surrender in Congo: A Conflict Decades in the Making

Nearly 300 foreign mercenaries, hired by Congo to combat M23 rebels, surrendered to UN peacekeepers after being cornered near Lake Kivu. Their involvement, aimed at supporting Congo's army, worsened the conflict, a security group states. The mercenaries had little coordination and history repeats with similar military hires in the past.

In a recent turn of events, nearly 300 foreign mercenaries have surrendered to UN peacekeeping forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These individuals, hired by the Congolese government to thwart advances by the M23 rebels in the eastern part of the country, found themselves pressured into surrender following the rebels' capture of Goma, the region's largest city.

The mercenaries, largely operating with sophisticated military drones, were meant to bolster the disorganized and underfunded Congolese army. However, their efforts only exacerbated the already tense situation, according to the Kivu Security Tracker. With minimal coordination among military contractors, the involvement of these hired forces mirrored past failures that have marred Congo's history with mercenaries.

The unsettling presence of mercenaries in Congo harks back to a legacy of foreign military involvement. From the tumultuous 1960s, marked by figures like "Mad Mike" Hoare, to the present day, Congo has seen how hired guns often fail to stabilize the region. Recent assessments reveal that these mercenaries, mostly paid handsomely for their efforts, nonetheless contributed to a complex and deteriorating conflict landscape.

(With inputs from agencies.)