Luanda - A draft lasting peace agreement for the conflict between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will begin to be discussed in the coming days in Luanda at ministerial level, the Presidency of the Republic announced.
In a note posted on its official Facebook account, the Angolan Presidency explains that the new draft agreement was proposed by Angolan mediation, following the entry into force of the ceasefire recently reached by the parties.
The proposal was presented to the parties, in the last 48 hours, as part of the working visits carried out by President João Lourenço, in Kigali and Kinshasa, as mediator of the African Union (AU) in the conflict between the two neighboring countries.
The note indicates that the two countries thus have the opportunity to analyze it so that, in the coming days, on a date to be agreed between Angola, DRC and Rwanda, the proposal for lasting peace begins to be discussed in Luanda at ministerial level.
President João Lourenço returned to the country on Monday night after completing another diplomatic marathon that allowed him to meet with Presidents Paul Kagame, in Kigali, and Félix Tshisekedi, in Kinshasa.
The two trips aimed to restore mutual trust with a view to ensuring compliance with the new ceasefire agreement, signed on 30 July in Luanda between the DRC and Rwanda, under Angolan mediation.
Before his visit to the two countries, President João Lourenço spoke by phone with Kagame and Tshisekedi about the consolidation of the peace process in the DRC by observing the ceasefire, which has been in force since the 4th of this month.
The DRC accuses Rwanda of actively supporting the M23 rebellion in the conflict raging in the east of the country, allegations repeatedly refuted by the Rwandan authorities.
At the same time, Kinshasa also accuses Rwanda and the M23 of trying to seize the mineral resources of the east of the country, but the latter claims to be defending a minority of the threatened Tutsi population in the province of North Kivu.
The M23 was formed on April 4, 2012, when about 300 soldiers of the Armed Forces of the DRC rose up for alleged non-compliance with the peace agreement of March 23, 2009, which gives the movement its name.
After the loss of power of its then leader, Bosco Ntaganda, the movement took up arms again at the end of 2021, after a decade of dormancy.
Since then, it has conquered large areas of North Kivu territory and displaced hundreds of thousands of people in this eastern province.
The United Nations points to more than seven million displaced people in the region, in what constitutes one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world. IZ/DOJ
