DAKAR, Senegal — Congo’s authorities will take part in peace talks in Angola on Tuesday with the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group that has captured key areas of Congo’s mineral-rich east, a spokesperson stated Monday.
A delegation representing Congo is at the moment within the Angolan capital, Luanda, for the talks, Tina Salama, the spokesperson for President Felix Tshisekedi, informed The Related Press. Tshisekedi had earlier refused direct negotiations with the rebels.
M23 additionally despatched a delegation to Luanda, the group’s spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka stated on X Monday.
The conflict in eastern Congo escalated in January when the Rwanda-backed rebels superior and seized the strategic metropolis of Goma, adopted by Bukavu in February.
Angola, which has acted as a mediator within the battle, introduced final week that it’ll host direct peace negotiations between Congo and M23 on Tuesday.
Peace talks between Congo and Rwanda were unexpectedly canceled in December after Rwanda made the signing of a peace settlement conditional on a direct dialogue between Congo and the M23 rebels, which Congo refused.
“A dialogue with a terrorist group just like the M23 is a pink line that we’ll by no means cross,” Tshisekedi stated throughout a speech to the diplomatic corps on Jan. 18.
M23 is one among about 100 armed teams which were vying for a foothold in mineral-rich japanese Congo close to the border with Rwanda, in a battle that has created one of many world’s most important humanitarian crises. Greater than 7 million individuals have been displaced.
The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, in line with U.N. consultants, and at instances have vowed to march so far as Congo’s capital, Kinshasa.
The U.N. Human Rights Council final month launched a commission to investigate atrocities, together with allegations of rape and killing akin to “abstract executions” by either side.
The U.S. State Division stated final week it was open to a mining partnership in Congo and has confirmed that preliminary discussions had begun.
On Sunday, Tshisekedi met with the U.S. particular envoy to Congo, Rep. Ronny Jackson, to debate potential safety and financial partnerships.
“We need to work collectively in order that American firms can make investments and work within the Democratic Republic of Congo, and for that we have now to verify there’s a peace within the nation,” Jackson informed reporters after the assembly.
