Following a meeting held in Luanda between the president of the DRC, Félix Tshisekedi; the former head of state of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, and the Angolan president, João Lourenço; the minister explained the issues discussed at the meeting and the reason for the suspension of the tripartite summit between the DRC, Rwanda and Angola.
António explained that the peace agreement formulated for Kinshasa and Kigali by Lourenço last August had been negotiated and approved by the parties to the extent of more than 90 percent, since they agreed on two of the three fundamental issues.
These were the implementation of the Harmonized Plan for the Neutralization of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and the Separation of Forces/Lifting of defense measures in Rwanda.
However, the parties failed to reach an agreement on the issue of the M23, an issue that was discussed until late the day before between the Foreign Ministers of Rwanda, Olivier J.P. Nduhungirehe, and of the DRC, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner.
The Angolan foreign minister specified that the issue of the M23 must be divided into three parts. The first is the mechanism for its treatment, on which Rwanda and DRC agreed that this should be done through the Nairobi Process.
The second is the facilitator, where they also agreed that Kenyatta should be the mediator; and the third is how the facilitator will carry out his mission, on which they could not agree, according to António.
The minister said that the dispute is on the method, since it could be the direct meeting between the parties or the conversation of the facilitator separately with each of the elements.
Without specifying who, António added that in view of this disagreement one of the parties asked to wait until they reach an agreement to carry out the tripartite summit between DRC, Rwanda and Angola as a mediator designated by the African Union.
However, the Congolese Presidency revealed that Rwanda made direct dialogue between Kinshasa and the M23 a condition for the signing of a peace agreement. On his account on the social network X, he said that this was the reason why the Rwandan delegation did not participate in the tripartite summit scheduled for this Sunday and which was supposed to put an end to hostilities in eastern Congo.
“On Saturday, during a meeting of the foreign ministers of the three countries concerned, Rwanda made the signing of the agreement conditional on the organization of a direct dialogue between the Democratic Republic of Congo and the M23 terrorists. An offer rejected by the Congolese side,” the Presidency specified.
The DRC and Rwanda are in the middle of a conflict because Kinshasa accuses Kigali of providing support to the M23 rebels, who are occupying several cities and communes in eastern Congo, as well as of directly involving themselves and stealing mineral resources.
On the other hand, the Congolese government refuses to negotiate with the M23 because it considers them puppets of Rwanda, whose armed forces participate in the aggression against Congolese territory, according to information documented by United Nations experts.
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