Continuing the tradition of L’Afrique des grands lacs: Annuaire, this companion volume to Conjonctures de l’Afrique centrale (Paris, L’Harmattan), offers a survey of political developments in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda over the course of 2022. Major events have been regional rather than domestic. When the DRC and Uganda agreed in the fall of 2021 that Ugandan army units were to be deployed on Congolese territory to combat an originally Ugandan rebel group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), Rwanda resented being ignored in an area it considers vital for its security and economic interests. It reactivated the M23 rebel group which it supported ten years ago until it was defeated by an international effort and had led a dormant life since. While relations between the DRC and Rwanda considerably improved after Félix Tshisekedi became president, they deteriorated dramatically when M23 resumed fighting and Rwandan support for the rebel group became clear. After M23 took control of Bunagana, an important trading centre on the DRC-Uganda border, the DRC accused Rwanda of military aggression and expelled the Rwandan ambassador. After the deployment of an East African regional force (EACRF), starting in November 2022, the four countries studied in these Chronicles are involved in military operations: Burundi and Uganda as part of the EACRF, alongside Kenya and South Sudan, Rwanda in support of M23, and the DRC as the scene of fighting.
Political Chronicles 2022
of the African Great Lakes Region