Luanda – The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda on Wednesday decided on an immediate ceasefire in the armed conflict in eastern DRC, which has already forced the displacement of thousands of people in the province of North Kivu.
The decision was announced by the Angolan President, João Lourenço, at the end of the tripartite summit, which aimed to address the armed conflict in eastern DRC.
During the meeting, which took place in the Angolan capital under the mediation of President Lourenço, the parties also agreed on the immediate withdrawal of the positions held by M23 in the east of the DRC.
“It is with satisfaction that I must announce that we have made progress, to the extent that we have agreed on a ceasefire,” the Angolan Head of State said at the end of the meeting.
President Lourenço said that the parties had also decided to create an ad hoc monitoring mechanism headed by an Angolan general officer.
He added that the mechanism will operate simultaneously with another existing mechanism at the level of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).
As well as this, the Angolan President said it was agreed that the meeting of the joint DRC-Rwanda commission would take place in Luanda next Tuesday.
On the summit, the Angolan Head of State said that “there was a perfect understanding” between the three presidents.
The current escalation of tension is due to the resurgence of the M23 (March 23 Movement) group, an armed militia that in 2012 opposed the Congolese government and generated a violent conflict in the region.
M23 was initially a militia formed by Tutsis from the DRC and allegedly supported by the governments of Rwanda and Uganda. On 23 March 2009, the militia signed a peace agreement with the Congolese government which culminated in its members being incorporated into the DRC army.
In 2012, M23 rose up again against the DRC government, accusing it of not fulfilling its part of the agreement signed three years earlier. The M23 was thus born, in reference to the date on which the controversial pact was signed.
Tension between the militia and the army reached a peak in November 2012, when M23 took over the Goma region (DRC).
Relations between the two neighbouring countries have become complicated since the DRC took in, in the eastern part, Rwandan Hutus accused of participating in the genocide of Tutsis in 1994.
In March of this year (2022), the DRC accused the Rwandan government of sending special forces to Congolese territory.
Source: Angola Press News Agency