Angola announced on Monday it would withdraw from its role as mediator in the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between government forces and the M23 rebel group in order to focus on its presidency of the African Union (AU).

The Angolan president, Joao Lourenço was named mediator by the AU in 2022 in an attempt to end the conflict involving the M23 which stepped up its offensives in January and seized large swathes of land in mineral-rich eastern DRC.

Rwanda denies providing the M23 with military assistance. President Paul Kagame's administration says it faces a threat in the region from the FDLR group, founded by ethnic Hutu leaders involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide of the Tutsis.

"Angola recognises the need to free itself from the responsibility of mediating this conflict ... in order to more comprehensively focus on the general priorities established by the continental organisation," the presidency said in a statement.

"Angola has always believed in the need for direct negotiations between the DRC government and the M23," the presidency added.

Since the end of 2021, several ceasefires and truces have been agreed before being broken.

Angola, which took up the rotating presidency of the AU two months ago, said that it would work with the AU Commission to find another mediator.

'Fruitful meeting'

The announcement comes less than a week after talks scheduled to be held in Angola's capital, Luanda, were cancelled after the M23 pulled out following the imposition of EU sanctions on some of its top brass.

Referring to the cancelled Luanda talks, the Angolan presidency said the negotiations had been aborted "due to a combination of factors, including some external elements unrelated to the ongoing African process".

On the same day as the scheduled meeting in Luanda, the government of Qatar announced it had hosted Kagame and his Congolese counterpart, Felix Tshisekedi, for talks.

After the meeting, Qatari officials released a statement. It said the presidents reaffirmed their commitment to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire as agreed at an African summit in February.

"The fruitful meeting helped build confidence in a shared commitment to a secure and stable future for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the region," the statement added.

Despite the recent attempts to broker a ceasefire, the M23 last week took control of the mining hub of Walikale, the farthest west the group has advanced into the interior of the DRC since 2012.