Angola to host summit in DR Congo and Rwanda peace process

 

When the Second Regional Heads of State Conclave on the Democratic Republic of Congo convened in Nairobi. [File, Standard]

Ceasefire broker Angola will host a summit on December 15 to advance peace talks between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda about the DRC's troubled east, the presidency said on Monday.

Since 2021 the Kigali-backed and largely ethnic Tutsi M23 rebel militia has seized swathes of the eastern DRC, displacing thousands and triggering a humanitarian crisis.

Angola in early August mediated a fragile truce that stabilised the situation at the front line.

But since the end of October, the M23 has been on the march again, and continued to carry out localised offensives.

Despite violations of the ceasefire, the DRC and Rwanda are maintaining diplomatic dialogue through Angola's mediation.

Early in November, the two central African neighbours launched a committee to monitor ceasefire violations, led by Angola and including representatives from both the DRC and Rwanda.

"As part of ongoing efforts to find a lasting solution" to the conflict, Angolan President Joao Lourenco decided to organise the summit, which will take place in the capital Luanda.

Kinshasa and Kigali last week approved a concept of operations document, a "key instrument" supposed to set out the terms by which Rwandan troops will disengage from Congolese territory, according to Angola's foreign ministry.

The plan, used by the military to set the timeline of an operation and the organisation of its resources, will guide the implementation of the harmonised plan intended to bring peace between the two neighbours.

A previous draft of the plan dated in August sets out the dismantling of a militia created by former ethnic Hutu leaders involved in the Rwandan genocide in 1994 as a precondition for Rwanda withdrawing its troops.

Often portrayed by Kigali as a threat to its security, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) is one of various disparate militias fighting alongside the Congolese armed forces against the M23.

For the past three decades, the DRC's mineral-rich east has been plagued by internal and cross-border violence.