DRC, M23 set for peace talks in Luanda, Angola says

Luanda — Direct peace talks between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and M23 rebels will begin in the Angolan capital, Luanda, on March 18, Angola’s presidency said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Southern African country has been trying to mediate a lasting ceasefire and de-escalate tensions between the DRC and neighbouring Rwanda, which has been accused of backing the Tutsi-led rebel group. Rwanda denies those allegations.

Angola announced on Tuesday that it would attempt to broker the direct talks.

The DRC government has repeatedly refused to hold talks with M23 but on Tuesday said that it had taken note of the Angolan initiative.

On Wednesday Tina Salama, spokesperson for DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, said the government had received an invitation from Angola but did not confirm its participation.

M23 leader Bertrand Bisimwa in a post on X boasted of forcing Tshisekedi to the negotiating table, calling it “the only civilised option to resolve the current crisis” that has intensified dramatically since January.

The rebels have seized two of the biggest cities in eastern DRC since January in an escalation of a long-running conflict rooted in the spillover into the DRC of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the struggle for control of the country’s vast mineral resources.

The DRC government has said at least 7,000 people have died in the fighting since January. At least 600,000 people have been displaced by the fighting since November, according to the UN humanitarian affairs office.

SA, Burundi and Uganda have troops in eastern DRC, raising fears of an all-out regional war reminiscent of the wars of the 1990s and early 2000s which killed millions.

Eastern Congo is home to vast reserves of strategic minerals such as coltan, cobalt, copper and lithium, resources that are central to the development of new technology and green energy.

Reuters