South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says dialogue is "the best way” to end the conflict in eastern DR Congo.
Ramaphosa made the comments on Thursday, July 6, at a press conference in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, after a meeting with his counterpart Felix Tshisekedi.
In his meeting with Tshisekedi, Ramaphosa said that they "agreed that the best way, that is tried and tested, of resolving conflict is through dialogue, through when people sit down and are able to find ways of negotiating.”
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Since November 2021, the Congolese army, FARDC has been fighting the M23 rebels in North Kivu province. The United Nations and African Union have also rallied for peaceful initiatives to end the conflict.
Kinshasa has ruled out negotiations with M23 and calls the group a terrorist movement.
However Ramaphosa said the continental and regional peace processes initiated for the conflict in eastern DR Congo are channels of dialogue that President Tshisekedi "could never be against.”
South Africa is a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which approved military deployment to eastern DR Congo to restore peace and security.
In May, Tshisekedi threatened to expel troops from the East African Community (EAC) accusing them of not fighting the M23 rebels. At the press conference, he said he had not "rejected” the EAC regional force but rather "criticised their behaviour.”
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Tshisekedi said the SADC troops could deploy any time, depending on how the EAC force implements its mandate, which was renewed until September 2023.
Ramaphosa and Tshisekedi said their two countries would reach a bilateral arrangement, in addition to the SADC initiative.
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Eastern DR Congo is home to more than 130 armed groups responsible for various atrocities and human rights abuses.
Multiple initiatives, including one of the largest United Nations peacekeeping missions, have failed to end decades of violence.