Expectations are running high for a peace deal in Luanda, the Angolan capital, between the presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda.
KINSHASA/LUANDA, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Expectations are running high for a peace deal in Luanda, the Angolan capital, between the presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda.
Angolan President Joao Lourenco is scheduled to host DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Sunday in a bid to ease the tensions gripping the eastern DRC.
HOPE OF NEW CHAPTER
As part of the Luanda Process, a peace initiative launched in 2022 and endorsed by the African Union, agreements have been reached to accelerate stabilization efforts in the region.
The eastern DRC has been destabilized by the M23 rebel group, which has recently been advancing and grabbing swaths of land in the area. The DRC government accuses Rwanda of providing military support for the M23, an accusation Kigali denies.
Rwanda, while denying ties with the M23, has accused the DRC military of collaborating with Rwandan rebel forces, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), whose members are held responsible for the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
"It has never been the policy of the DRC to support the FDLR," Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, the DRC minister of foreign affairs, told the press recently.
"We hope that through this facilitation and this meeting at the level of heads of state, we can put an end to this conflict, turning the page once and for all so that the DRC can fully control its national territory," Wagner said.
The Angola summit follows significant progress achieved on Nov. 25, when the foreign ministers of the DRC and Rwanda signed a "concept of operations" in Luanda.
This document, approved during the sixth ministerial meeting of the Luanda Process, outlines measures for action against the FDLR and the gradual withdrawal of Rwandan forces from the DRC.
"The DRC remains firmly committed to the Luanda Process, convinced that it offers the most promising path toward a sustainable resolution," Wagner said in her address to the United Nations Security Council on Monday.
FRAGILE CEASEFIRE
As part of the peace process, a ceasefire agreement took effect on Aug. 4. However, clashes between the DRC military and the M23 have intensified since late October. The M23, which did not sign the ceasefire agreement, has expanded its territorial control.
"The M23 … has consolidated its civilian and military occupation in North Kivu (a province in the eastern DRC). Today, it controls an area twice as large as in 2012," Bintou Keita, special representative of the UN Secretary-General in the DRC, told the UN Security Council meeting on Monday.
The M23 is a group of former rebels of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP). The name came from an agreement signed between the DRC government and the CNDP on March 23, 2009. In November 2012, the M23 occupied Goma, the capital of the North Kivu Province, for 10 days.
After it was defeated by the DRC army, the M23 signed a peace accord with the government in December 2013, in which it agreed to demobilize its fighters and transform itself into a political party. M23 leaders, however, have since accused the government of failing to respect that agreement.
M23 insurgency resurfaced in late 2021.
Despite the launch of a joint ceasefire monitoring committee by the neighboring countries in early November, fighting resumed between the DRC military and the M23 on several fronts in Lubero Territory, North Kivu, where the rebels have seized additional areas.
The M23 is also closely following the peace process.
"We respect and commend the Angolan mediator's efforts to achieve peace in the Great Lakes region," Laurence Kanyuka, political spokesperson for the M23, said in an interview with Xinhua on Friday.
"We are ready to sit at the negotiating table with the Kinshasa government," Kanyuka said.
The Congolese government has so far rejected any direct negotiations with the M23.
On Wednesday, during his State of the Nation address before both houses of parliament, the DRC president condemned the occupation of several towns by M23 rebels, which has driven millions of people out of their homes.
According to the UN, nearly 6.4 million people are displaced in the DRC due to armed conflicts and natural disasters. ■