Rwanda-DRC moor plans to de-escalate tension
Foreign ministers of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda have agreed to accelerate efforts to de-escalate tensions and resolve their political crisis.
In a joint statement issued after their meeting in Angola, the ministers agreed to continue holding conversations “as a priority way of resolving the political crisis between the two brotherly countries” and to define “a timetable for accelerating” the de-escalation plan signed in July.
The journey to end hostilities was reached at an Angola-brokered summit between Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi.
Rwanda is accused of supporting the M23, a mainly Tutsi Congolese militia which rose to prominence in 2012.
After laying mostly dormant for years, it resumed fighting last year, claiming that DRC had failed to honour a pledge to integrate them into the army, among other grievances.
However, Kigali repeatedly denied backing the rebels, which has soured relations with Kinshasa.
The DRC expelled Rwanda’s ambassador last month, while also recalling its envoy from Kigali.
The eastern DRC has been plagued for nearly three decades by armed groups, many of them inherited from the wars that bloodied the region in the wake of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
According to the United Nations (UN), fighting between the Congolese Armed Forces and the M23 has displaced around 50,000 people since October 20, and has had 12,000 take refuge in Uganda.
