President Macron mediates Kagame, Tshisekedi on M23 withdrawal

NEW YORK, US

M23 rebels may soon quickly withdraw from their positions stretching through large swath of occupied territory in Eastern DRC.

The new development is a culmination of Wednesday talks in New York between President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and President Félix Tshisekedi of DRC initiated and mediated by President Emmanuel Macron of France.

During these talks, the Rwandan and DRC leaders agreed to unite their forces to fight against the activism of armed groups in eastern DRC.

According to the communication unit of the DRC Presidency, the two leaders have agreed to act together to obtain as quickly as possible the withdrawal of the M23 from all the occupied localities and the return of those displaced by war from these localities to their homes, with the support of the United Nations and their partners from the African Union, the East African Community and the Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).

According to the same source, the latter also agreed to sustainably intensify their cooperation to fight against impunity and put an end to the action of armed groups in the Great Lakes region, including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

Meanwhile, without divulging details, Rwanda Presidency only said President Kagame met with President Emmanuel Macron of France and President Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo to discuss solutions to the security situation in eastern DRC.

Insider sources in the Kinshasa regime have noted that this decision is culmination of a secret mediation mission carried out for several weeks by the French intelligence service for a de-escalation between Kinshasa and Kigali.

As a reminder, officials from the Congolese, Rwandan and Ugandan intelligence services have visited Paris in recent days as part of mediation led by the General Directorate of External Security (DGSE).