Agreement reached for a ceasefire in eastern DRC starting Sunday

Jul 31. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Diplomatic representatives from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda have reached an agreement to push for a ceasefire starting Sunday in eastern Congo, the scene of hostilities with the Kigali-backed M23 rebel group.

Congolese Foreign Minister Therese Jayikwamba Wagner and her Rwandan counterpart Olivier Jean Patrick Nduhungirehe held a meeting in the Angolan capital Luanda, which was also attended by Angolan diplomatic representative Tete Antonio, according to Angop news agency.

According to the final communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, the ceasefire will come into effect at midnight on 4 August and will be supervised by the Verification Mechanism created ‘ad hoc’ for this matter.

The M23 is a rebel group made up largely of Congolese Tutsis and operates mainly in the province. Following a conflict between the DRC and the group in 2012 and 2013, a peace agreement was signed in December between the DRC and the group. In the fighting, the Congolese army was supported by UN troops.

The group launched a new offensive in October 2022, which intensified from November, triggering a diplomatic crisis between the DRC and Rwanda over its role in the conflict. Kigali has accused Kinshasa of supporting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed rebel group founded and composed mainly of Hutus responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.