The Presidents of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will meet in Angola on Sunday for a new round of talks aimed at resolving the ongoing conflict in the eastern DRC. Since reemerging in 2021, the M23 militia, backed by Kigali and claiming to protect ethnic Tutsis, has seized large areas of DRC territory, displacing thousands and causing a humanitarian crisis.
In early August, Angola brokered a fragile truce that helped stabilize the frontline, but both sides have continued to exchange fire, with clashes escalating since late October. Angolan President João Lourenço, appointed by the African Union as a mediator, expressed optimism on Thursday that the Luanda summit could lead to a peace agreement. “We are hopeful that this meeting will result in the signing or decision to sign a long-lasting peace agreement between the two neighboring countries,” Lourenço said during a visit to South Africa.
Rwanda confirmed that President Paul Kagame would attend the summit on Sunday, accompanied by Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe. The Congolese presidency also confirmed that President Félix Tshisekedi would participate, despite the DRC’s previous rejections of negotiations with Rwanda and calls for international sanctions against its neighbor. “Our country continues to face persistent rebellions, including aggression from the Rwandan army and the M23 terrorists,” Tshisekedi said in parliament on Wednesday, labeling the militants and Rwanda as “enemies of the Republic.”
The city of Goma, the capital of DRC’s North Kivu province, is now nearly surrounded by M23 rebels and the Rwandan army, with about one million residents and another million displaced people trapped in the region.
