The French army has just completed jungle combat training for a 2nd Battalion of Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and plans to form a third, the French Embassy in Kinshasa announced on Sunday.
In a press release, the embassy recalls that France has undertaken in 2021 to “strengthen its operational military partnership and to contribute to the strengthening of the FARDC to fight against the armed groups raging in the east of the country”.
A first “jungle” battalion (comprising about 800 men) was trained by the French Elements in Gabon (EFG) and has been operational since last September in North Kivu.
Four months of training
“The objective was to train the entire battalion in defensive and offensive combat, with particular emphasis on combat in the jungle: shooting, fight against IEDs (improvised explosive devices), first aid…”, specifies the text.
The training of a 2nd “jungle” battalion began on April 11 at the Congolese military camp of Kibomango, east of Kinshasa, provided by an EFG detachment made up of around fifty French soldiers. A closing ceremony of this training took place on Thursday.
Some units of this battalion received their training at the combat training center in the Gabon forest, in the Libreville region, the embassy further indicates. In total, she says, “France has undertaken to form three battalions” in combat in the jungle.