KINSHASA, DR Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi has expressed his willingness to meet with his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame to address the ongoing instability in the Eastern DRC.
This statement came during
Tshisekedi’s visit to Angola, where he met with Angolan President Joao Lourenco
in the capital Luanda. Angola’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Tete Antonio
revealed this development following a meeting between Lourenco and Tshisekedi.
Antonio said that Lourenco,
acting as the mediator appointed by the African Union (AU), had engaged in
discussions with both Tshisekedi and Kagame during the 37th AU Summit in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia.
Angola has been tasked with
facilitating the meeting between the two leaders, although specific dates have
not yet been mentioned. The mediation efforts stem from the need to address the
recent escalation of conflicts in the Eastern DRC, particularly involving the
M23 rebels, and to restore relations between the DRC and Rwanda.
The DRC has accused Rwanda of
backing M23 rebels, an accusation Kigali denies. The rebel group, which
resurfaced in late 2021, has triggered conflicts and humanitarian crises and
seized major strongholds on Congolese soil.
The United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement issued earlier this month that it
was deeply concerned by the dire consequences for civilians, including an
estimated 135,000 internally displaced people fleeing the town of Sake toward
the nearby city of Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province in the DRC, where
tensions have been on the rise with intensive fighting between the Armed Forces
of the DRC (FARDC) and M23 rebels.
The mediation process, led by
Lourenco, has already yielded the adoption of a roadmap on the pacification of
the eastern region of the DRC, also known as the Luanda Process, which aims to
peacefully resolve the conflicts in the region and foster cooperation between
the DRC and Rwanda.
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