Nairobi – Angolan President João Lourenço expressed his confidence on the restoration of peace in the Great Lakes, during a statement made on Saturday in Nairobi.
Speaking at a press conference as part of the official visit to Kenya, he said that the two countries have been working together to achieve this goal.
João Lourenço said that it is a complicated process, but not impossible and for this reason 'we are optimistic that we will be able to find peace not only for the DRC, but in the entire Great Lakes region.
He added that this conflict had unfortunately affected good relations between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda.
“We are working together to reverse the situation, because so far, we have seen positive results, but we have reached a point where we cannot stop, as we need to take the next step”, he reinforced.
Regarding the deadlock, the Angolan statesman said that it has to do with the cantonment of the M23.
In the meantime, he said, if it is not achieved, we run the risk of the gains achieved so far being lost, because what has been achieved has been at the cost of a great sacrifice by everyone, namely the mediators, Congolese authorities, Rwanda and the M23.
He clarified the Luanda and Nairobi processes, detailing that Angola received a mandate from the African Union to deal only with the M23 case, while Kenya must act on matters related to other rebel groups.
Angola, within the framework of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), has been facilitating the dialogue between the parties that allowed the adoption of the Luanda Roadmap on the pacification process of the eastern region of the DRC.
Within the framework of the Luanda Roadmap, the joint action plan for the resolution of the security crisis in eastern DRC was adopted, under which it was agreed to camp the M23 elements in Congolese territory and to start the repatriation of all refugees as well as the disarmament and reintegration process.
Angola, as a mediator in the process, committed to deploying a contingent of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) to ensure the safety of M23 elements in the cantonment centers.
The President of the Republic, João Lourenço, ended a two-day visit to Kenya on Saturday, at the invitation of his counterpart, William Ruto, as part of the strengthening of cooperation. ART/VIC/ADR/DOJ
