LUANDA — The
Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda have agreed to a “de-escalation
process” following weeks of rising ten-sions over rebel fighting in eastern
DRC, the Congolese presidency said Wednesday after mediated talks.
اضافة اعلان
But the talks mediator,
Angolan President Joao Lourenco, went further announcing a “ceasefire” — although giving no details.
Violence has flared between is the Congolese army
and the M23 rebels and is ongoing.
The DRC has repeatedly accused Rwanda of backing the
M23, a charge the small central African country always denied.
“I am pleased to announce that we have had positive
results, in our view, in that we have agreed on a ceasefire, among other
measures,” Lourenco said in remarks at the end of the mini-summit attended by
Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and Congo’s Felix Tshisekedi in the Angolan capital
Luan-da.
Tshisekedi’s office said a “roadmap” had been
established towards nor-malizing diplomatic ties, including through ending
hostilities involving the M23 militia in eastern DRC.
The announcements came after day-long talks which
the Rwandan state broadcaster reported had “concluded with an agreed upon
roadmap to deescalate hostilities”.
But the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency stressed that it
was agreed that the issue of M23 “be dealt with domestically within the
framework of the Nairobi process.”
A mostly Congolese Tutsi rebel group, the M23 — or
“March 23 Move-ment” — first leapt to prominence when it briefly captured the
eastern Congolese city of Goma in 2012 before it was driven out in a joint
UN-Congolese offensive.
After lying mostly dormant for years, the M23
resumed fighting last November after accusing the Congolese government of
failing to honour an agreement to incorporate its fighters into the army.
Fierce fighting has seen the rebels make significant
advances in eastern Congo. Last month, M23 fighters captured the strategic town
of Buna-gana on the Congolese-Ugandan border, for example.
At the end Wednesday’s talks, the Congolese
presidency said the three presidents had decided upon a “de-escalation process
between the DRC and Rwanda”.
This involves setting up a joint DRC-Rwanda
committee, which is due to hold its first meeting in Luanda on July 12, as well
as a roadmap for normalizing relations.
The M23 must cease hostilities under the roadmap,
according to the Congolese presidency, and the “exploitation of natural
resources in the region must be done in strict respect of the sovereignty of
states”.
Lourenco, who is also the chairman of the
International Conference for the Great Lakes Region, mediated the talks at the
request of the Africa Union after the violence grew into a diplomatic faceoff
between the two neighbors.
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