Washington – Angolan president João Lourenço held on Wednesday, in Washington, a high-level meeting with the participation of his counterparts from Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
According to the official page of the Presidency of the Republic, the meeting took place on the sidelines of his participation in the US-Africa Leaders Summit, which ends Thursday in Washington, US.
According to the same Facebook page, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was represented at the meeting by its prime minister.
At the time of this posting, no further details were given about the issues discussed at the meeting mediated by João Lourenço.
The Angolan President, African Union mediator for the conflict in the East of the DRC, has carried out an intense diplomatic action to normalize the situation in the East of the DRC, in order to find a peaceful solution to the crisis involving Kinshasa and Kigali.
Tension between the DRC and Rwanda had increased in recent months after fighting resumed in March between the DRC army and the M23 rebel movement.
As part of a summit in Luanda in November of this year to advance the normalization of diplomatic relations, the DRC and Rwanda agreed on a ceasefire and the withdrawal of the M23 from areas recently conquered by the rebel group in the province of North Kivu (eastern DRC).
The Luanda meeting also decided to continue the full deployment of the regional force and its intervention against the M23, should it refuse to cease hostilities and withdraw from the occupied territories.
Meanwhile, on the sidelines of his participation in the summit, Lourenço was at the White House on Wednesday to attend a dinner hosted by President Joe Biden for African leaders.
The Head of State was accompanied by the First Lady of the Republic, Ana Dias Lourenço.
In Washington, Lourenço also participated in the closing ceremony of the Business Forum organized as part of the U.S.-Africa summit.
