back to top
HomeEast AfricaRwanda,DRC Peace Talks Hit Snag As Kagame Pulls Out At The Last...

Rwanda,DRC Peace Talks Hit Snag As Kagame Pulls Out At The Last Minute

Published on

- Advertisement -spot_img

Talks due Sunday between the leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo to end conflict in the eastern DRC were called off after negotiations deadlocked, officials said.

Since 2021 a Rwanda-backed rebel militia has seized swathes of the eastern DRC, displacing thousands and triggering a humanitarian crisis.

There had been high hopes that the summit hosted by Angola’s President Joao Lourenco the African Union mediator to end the conflict would end with a deal to end the conflict.

But around midday Sunday the head of the Angolan presidency’s media office said it would not go ahead.

“Contrary to what we expected, the summit will no longer be held today,” media officer Mario Jorge told journalists.

Lourenco was meeting with DRC leader Felix Tshisekedi and without Rwandan President Paul Kagame, he said.

The Congolese presidency said that negotiations had hit deadlock over a Rwandan demand that the DRC hold direct dialogue with the Kigali-backed and largely ethnic Tutsi M23 rebels who have since 2021 seized swathes of the eastern DRC.

“There is a stalemate because the Rwandans have set as a precondition for the signing of an agreement that the DRC hold a direct dialogue with the M23,” Giscard Kusema, the Congolese presidency spokesman present in Luanda, told AFP.

Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said Friday that his country wanted “a firm commitment from the DRC to resume direct talks with the M23 within a well-defined framework and timeframe.”

The Congolese government says, however, that the M23 only exists because of Rwandan military support.

“If Kigali is in good faith in the negotiations and on its promise to withdraw … its troops from Congolese soil, the conflict will end with the M23, and at the same time it will stop with Rwanda,” a Congolese government source said.

Fragile truce

Kagame and Tshisekedi last saw each other in October in Paris but did not speak, though they have maintained dialogue through the mediation of Luanda.

In early August, Angola mediated a fragile truce that stabilized the situation at the front line, but both sides continued to exchange fire and clashes have intensified since late October.

Home to a string of rival armed groups, the mineral-rich eastern DRC has been plagued by internal and cross-border violence for the past three decades.

“Our country continues to face persistent rebellions, including the aggression by the Rwandan army and the M23 terrorists,” Tshisekedi said in parliament Wednesday, calling the militants and Rwanda “enemies of the Republic.”

The capital of DRC’s North Kivu province, Goma, home to about 1 million people and another million displaced by war, is now nearly surrounded by M23 rebels and the Rwandan army.

Early in November, the two central African neighbours launched a committee to monitor ceasefire violations, led by Angola and including representatives from both the DRC and Rwanda.

Kinshasa and Kigali a few weeks later approved a document setting out the terms by which Rwandan troops will disengage from Congolese territory.

A previous draft dated in August listed the dismantling of the FDLR militia, created by ethnic Hutus involved in the Rwandan genocide in 1994, as a precondition for Rwanda’s withdrawal.

Often portrayed by Kigali as a threat to its security, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) is one of various disparate militias fighting alongside the Congolese army against the M23.

The August draft was rejected by the DRC, which demanded that the withdrawal occur at the same time as the FDLR’s dismantling.

The final strategic document, seen by AFP, planned for a period of 90 days to “conclude the neutralization of the FDLR and the lifting of Rwanda’s defensive measures.”AFP

Related

Mukono Residents Demand Accountability From Hon. Nsibwa Fred Kagwa Over Theatre Construction Funds At Nakifuma Health Centre III

Mukono residents are demanding accountability from Hon. Nsibwa Fred Kagwa, the Member of Parliament...

Shincheonji Taekwondo Team Wins Medals Again At International Competition, Shining On The Global Stage

At the 2025 Park Chung-hee Cup International Open Taekwondo Championships: 4 Gold, 7 Silver,...

Bebe Cool Reflects On Key Lessons From His Kenya and Dar es Salaam Media Tour

After two weeks in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, promoting his Break the Chains...

Kadaga Dumps Namuganza As Allies Suffer Defeat In NRM Primaries

Veteran politician and First Deputy Prime Minister, Rt Hon. Rebecca Kadaga, appears to have...

More from The Capital Times

Business Boom In Namugongo Ahead Of Martyrs Day

Business has picked up this morning at Namugongo Martyrs shrine according to traders. The...

Minister Kasolo In Hot Soup Over Alleged Orungo Voter Attacks Accused Of Orchestrating Violence Fo Intimidate Opponents in NRM Primaries

A political storm is brewing in Orungo sub-county after shocking allegations emerged linking Uganda’s...

African contemporary singer Liboi pairs up with Kenyan producer Kayrop on new single “twende sote”

NAIROBI - JULY 11, 2025 — African contemporary singer Liboi has teamed up withKenyan...