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25-04-2025
DOHA: The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwandan-backed M23 rebels have agreed to halt fighting in the east of the country until peace talks mediated by Qatar reach their “conclusion”.
It is the latest truce deal since the rebels stepped up an offensive in eastern DR Congo where authorities say 7,000 people have been killed since January.
Both sides on Wednesday jointly announced to work towards peace following more than a week of talks, which they described as “frank and constructive”.
Last month, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame also reaffirmed their commitment to an “unconditional” ceasefire in a surprise meeting in Doha.
The decades-long conflict has intensified since January when M23 staged an unprecedented offensive, seizing Goma and Bukavu eastern Congo’s two largest cities – and sparking fears of a wider regional war.
DR Congo accuses Rwanda of arming the M23 and sending troops to support the rebels in the conflict. Despite assertions from both the UN and US, Rwanda has denied supporting the M23.
Rwanda has said its forces are acting in self-defence against the Congolese army and allied militias, some of which it accuses of links to the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
DR Congo also accuses Rwanda of illegally exploiting its mineral deposits in the east of the country, which Rwanda denies.
In a joint statement released separately by the M23 and Congolese government on Wednesday, each side pledged to give peace talks a chance.
“By mutual agreement, both parties reaffirm commitment to the immediate cessation of hostilities, a categorical rejection of any hate speech, intimidation, and call on all local communities to uphold these commitments,” they said in a statement read on Congolese national TV and and posted on X by the M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka.
They said the ceasefire would apply “throughout the duration of the talks and until their conclusion”.
Sources in the Qatar talks told media that the outcome of the meetings were almost derailed by “technical” issues.
It is not clear how long the truce will hold as several ceasefires have been agreed since 2021, before later collapsing.
Belgium’s Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Prevot termed the truce a “crucial step towards ending the violence”.
Qatar has been mediating between the two parties after the rebels refused to attend peace talks in Angola last month.
The Congolese government had long refused to hold direct talks with M23, branding it a “terrorist” group.
The mineral-rich east of the Democratic Republic of Congo has been dogged by conflict for more than 30 years, since the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Numerous armed groups have competed with the central authorities for power and control of the potential fortune in this vast nation.
The instability has sucked in neighboring countries to devastating effect notoriously in the 1990s when two huge conflicts, dubbed Africa’s World Wars, resulted in the deaths of millions of people.
After a rapid advance in the east, fighters from the M23 rebel group have captured a number of key cities and towns.
Their first major coup was at the end of January with the taking of Goma, a city in the North Kivu province that is home to more than a million people. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
