Congo-Kinshasa: M23 Compromises to Ceasefire in DRC From Tuesday

Sylvain Liechti/MONUSCO
Displaced People from North Kivu
3 March 2023
Angola Press Agency (Luanda)

Luanda — The leadership of the M23 movement pledged, on Friday, to cease hostilities in the entire eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as of 12:00 pm next Tuesday (7).

The information is confirmed in a statement released by Angola's Presidency of the Republic, which ANGOP has had access to.

The Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço, chairs the International Conference for the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) and is also the mediator of the African Union (AU) in the crisis between Rwanda and the DRC.

According to the document, the monitoring of the compliance with the ceasing of hostilities will be carried out within the framework of the Ad Hoc Verification Mechanism.

In the communiqué, Angola appeals to the parties to comply with the letter and spirit of the decisions of the various summits on the peace and security process in the DR Congo's eastern region.

The commitment of the M23 leadership results from contacts made by the Angolan mediation with that movement, in accordance with the decision taken by the Mini-Summit on peace and security in the Great Lakes region, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 17 February from 2023.

At the Mini-Summit held in the Ethiopian capital, the Heads of State and Government mandated Angola, in path with the Facilitator appointed by the East Africa Commission, Uhuru Kennyatta, to maintain contact with the leadership of the M23.

The contacts, continues the document, aimed at transmitting the decisions taken from the Mini-Summit in Addis Ababa, and following that deliberation, an Angolan delegation has maintained contact with the M23 leadership, since the 28th of February of the current year.

He adds that as a result of these contacts, the Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço, sent to Kinshasa (DRC), on 3 March, a delegation led by the minister of State and Head of the Military Affairs Office of the President of the Republic.

The Angolan delegation's mission was to inform on the results of talks with the M23 leadership to the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Félix Tshisekedi.

Read the original article on ANGOP.

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