12/14/2007

• Restructuring and training military forces is best done when troops are in barracks. But most FARDC integrated units are deployed to frontline positions in North Kivu. There is only one battalion of troops, plus the Republican Guard left in Kinshasa.


• The FARDC integrated brigades are not considered capable of effectively carrying out joint operations with MONUC. Therefore, in early July 2007 MONUC commenced a short-term training program for 33 battalions (11 brigades) as mandated by Security Council resolution 1756 (2007). The 12-week program focuses on discipline and conduct, as well as on enhancing operational capacity and cohesion. All 33 FARDC battalions are supposed to have completed the 12-week training program by September 2009. A total of 3,750 FARDC troops have completed the first training series (including 1,500 who participated in a six-week pilot program).


• The envisaged goal to be achieved is to "raise the operational capability of FARDC battalions, and to provide the necessary 'ethical sensitization' for the conduct of joint operations, and to improve units' internal cohesion." The training concept issued by the government's Eastern Division states that the training is to improve the combat potential of the FARDC units.


• The training provided by MONUC is basic infantry training, at best, at extremely rudimentary training facilities. MONUC has no specific funds budgeted for the provision of training to the FARDC; its logistic support for these efforts has therefore been extremely limited. There were not enough training aids available for training, including targets, which meant that the desired number of firing practices could not be completed. Most of the personal weapons brought by the FARDC to the training were unserviceable, and there was a lack of battalion support weapons.


• Despite shortcomings, MONUC's Training Task Force initiative offers a common base-line training program in the face of a number of other uncoordinated training assistance offers by China, the USA and South Africa, among others. Offers of assistance have been pitched at training components of an FARDC "rapid reaction force" of six brigades, to provide a capability for the Government of the DRC to stabilize the eastern part of the country and to take over from MONUC forces.


• According to a MONUC source, 400 Chinese instructors will be arriving shortly in the DRC to assist with FARDC training. While there is some degree of coordination among most international donors, the Chinese do not coordinate their bilateral military assistance efforts with other partners.


• On 29 October, the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa announced that the United States plans to help train a FARDC rapid reaction force to stabilize the east, and that U.S. State Department officials are negotiating the terms of a training contract. No contract has been finalized or signed at yet, but $5 million has been earmarked and it is envisioned that training will be provided by private company. The South Africans have also offered to train two battalions of the rapid reaction force, and have offered places in "train- the-trainer" courses in South Africa for select FARDC personnel.


• On 5 December, local media reported that a clandestine deal was recently agreed by President Mugabe and the DRC government – whereby the Zimbabwe Defense Force is sending trainers and possibly troop reinforcements to the DRC in return for mining concessions. The deal apparently also includes the sale of weapons to the DRC by the Zimbabwean government.