Direct peace talks between AFC/M23 rebels and the Congolese government are set to start in Luanda, on March 18, Angola's presidency announced in a statement on Wednesday, March 13.
The possibility of the talks was initially announced on Tuesday, March 11 after Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, who had long rejected the proposal for holding direct talks with the rebels, visited his Angolan counterpart João Lourenço.
ALSO READ: DR Congo, M23 to have direct talks, says Angola
Between late January and February, M23 rebels, who are part of the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), took control of Goma and Bukavu, two major cities in eastern DR Congo, forcing government soldiers to flee or surrender.
Previous rounds of peace talks on the DR Congo crisis always excluded the rebel movement. But on Tuesday, Angola said the two sides had agreed to come to the negotiating table.
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"Following the steps taken by the Angolan mediation ... delegations from the Democratic Republic of Congo and the M23 will begin direct peace talks on March 18 in the city of Luanda," the Angolan presidency said in a statement.
In a post on X, M23 leader Bertrand Bisimwa said the talks are the only civilised option to resolve the current crisis.
Bisimwa said: "We are committed to defeating Mr. Tshisekedi's military option and bringing him, willingly or by force, to the negotiating table, the only civilized option to resolve the current crisis that has lasted for decades."
https://x.com/bbisimwa/status/1899864643004182818
Persistent governance failures, corruption, and empty promises have destabilized eastern DR Congo for decades and the government in Kinshasa has not only failed to dismantle the "more than 200 armed groups ravaging our land" but, in many cases, has actively enabled their existence for political and economic gain, according to Bertrand Bisimwa, the AFC/M23 rebellion's deputy coordinator.
ALSO READ: HRW is serving Kinshasa regime's interests - M23
The rebel movement is fighting for governance that supports basic human rights, secures all Congolese citizens, and addresses the root causes of conflict. It has vowed to uproot tribalism, nepotism, corruption, and genocide ideology, among other vices, widespread in DR Congo.
The ongoing war between a vast Congolese government army coalition that includes FDLR, a DR Congo-based terrorist militia founded by remnants of the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, over 10,000 Burundian troops, 1,600 European mercenaries, South Africa-led SADC forces, as well as UN peacekeepers, all against M23 rebels, started in 2021.
The rebels are now part of a larger rebel coalition, Alliance fleuve Congo (AFC) - created in December 2023 - led by Corneille Nangaa, the former president of DR Congo's national electoral commission (CENI).
ALSO READ: M23 to Kinshasa: 'The sooner we talk, the sooner peace becomes a reality'
The Congolese government claims that Rwanda is supporting M23 rebels, an accusation which Kigali has dismissed. Despite their Rwandese heritage or culture, majority of the rebels were initially people from the Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese community which has been oppressed by its own government for decades.
Successive Congolese governments sought to expel them, branding them as Rwandans, and subjecting them to discrimination and targeted ethnic violence, a major factor behind the emergence of their rebel movement.
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President Paul Kagame and other regional leaders have emphasised that resolving the ongoing crisis in DR Congo requires finding a process that addresses political issues peacefully. In a recent interview, Kagame said that while a perfect resolution may not be immediately achievable, fighting needs to stop to give way for processes that address the root causes of the conflict. He laid out a three-step path to peace in eastern DR Congo. The path, according to Kagame, entails stopping the ongoing fighting and putting in place a process that resolves the political issues peacefully, by recognizing the rebellion's concerns, as well as Kinshasa recognizing the security concerns of Rwanda and addressing them "because they are based in Congo and in fact, they've been associated with the Congolese government."
ALSO READ: DR Congo crisis: Rwanda only concerned by FDLR security threat, not minerals - Kagame
Kigali has, on many occasions, stressed that the security challenges posed by FDLR and its splinter groups are of very serious concern for Rwanda.
It is for this reason that the Rwandan government decided to maintain defensive measures along the border with DR Congo as long as security threats from the Congolese army (FARDC) and its allies such as the genocidal militia, exist.
Kigali also wants the Congolese government held accountable for "its continued preservation of FDLR," embedding it in its army, equipping it with sophisticated weapons and using it as an ally and fighting force.
How did the genocidal militia end up in DR Congo?
When the Rwanda Patriotic Army took over power and stopped the Genocide against the Tutsi, in July 1994, the ousted genocidal regime's army (ex-FAR), politicians, and Interahamwe militia that had committed Genocide - runaway, en masse, with their weapons, to eastern DR Congo, then known as Zaire.
The remnants of the ousted genocidal regime's army and militia initially banded together into what they called the Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALIR).
In 2000, soon after the US government listed it as a terrorist organization following its murder of American tourists in Uganda's Bwindi forest, they formed FDLR so as to evade or distance themselves from their horrendous crimes.
On May 1, 2000, its initiators gathered in a large hall in Lubumbashi, DR Congo's second-largest city in the southeasternmost part, along the border with Zambia, and formed FDLR.
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Rwanda's Permanent Representative to the UN Ernest Rwamucyo, on February 21 told the UN Security Council that his country is concerned by the UN's focus on M23 and "total silence on the humongous humanitarian violations committed across many parts" of DR Congo, including the massacres, rapes and [rights] violations by CODECO, ADF, and other armed groups in Ituri, Beni, and South Kivu.
ALSO READ: M23 are no terrorists, the Congolese army is - say Bukavu residents
This week, Bisimwa also, once again denounced the Congolese government's endless targeting and killing of unarmed Banyamulenge civilians in Minembwe, Uvira, and surrounding areas in South Kivu Province.
On Monday, he reported that Sukhoi fighter jets bombed villages in Minembwe, where there was "neither a frontline nor a battle."
"One of the targeted sites was the Minembwe airstrip, which is used solely for commercial and humanitarian purposes in this highly isolated region, where all other routes are blocked by the FARDC and armed groups. No Munyamulenge can travel to Baraka, Fizi, or Uvira, let alone Mwenga. The only means of evacuation for the sick, the delivery of medicine, and other essential supplies was this airstrip. It has now been damaged by a plane belonging to the government of my country."
Bisimwa denounced "this situation" and put a question to the Congolese government, other institutions, particularly the Parliament, and to the international community: "does your silence not trouble you?"
