Peace talks on the situation in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, plagued by numerous armed groups including the M23 rebels, are due to begin on November 21 in Nairobi, the Community of African States of East (EAC).
A recent offensive by M23, a former Tutsi rebellion which took up arms again at the end of 2021, saw the group advance towards Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu of more than a million inhabitants, and is fueling tensions between the DRC and Rwanda. Kinshasa accuses Kigali of supporting the M23, which the Rwandan authorities deny.
Read alsoKenya sends troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo
“The next session of the peace dialogue on the situation in eastern DRC is scheduled to start on November 21 in Nairobicapital of Kenya, the EAC announced in a statement posted on Twitter. Neither the participants nor the duration of the discussions were specified.
The new violence by the M23 has caused renewed tension between the DRC and Rwanda, accused by Kinshasa since the beginning of the year of active support for this rebellion.
Diplomatic initiatives are multiplying in an attempt to resolve the conflict. Angolan President João Lourenço, who chairs the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (CIRGL), met his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame on Friday, then the next day the Congolese Head of State Félix Tshisekedi.
The EAC’s eastern DRC peace facilitator, former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, and Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye arrived in Kinshasa on Sunday for a two-day visit.
The first Kenyan soldiers arrived in Goma on Saturday as part of an East African regional force. Kenya’s parliament on Wednesday approved the dispatch of 900 troops to eastern DRC, which has been plagued by attacks by armed groups for nearly three decades.
A confidential UN report, consulted in August by AFP, points to Rwanda’s involvement with the M23. American leaders have also mentioned aid from the Rwandan army to the M23.
Kigali denies and accuses in return the DRC – which also denies – of collusion with the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), a movement of Rwandan Hutu rebels, some of whom are involved in the genocide of the Tutsi in 1994 in Rwanda.
According to the UN, the recent fighting has caused the displacement of 188,000 people.
Exactly 10 years ago, in November-December 2012, the M23 rebels occupied Goma for ten days, before being defeated the following year by the Congolese army and peacekeepers.