Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi on Tuesday, February 27, met his Angolan counterpart Joao Lourenço for talks about the Luanda peace process, which seeks to restore security in the conflict-ridden eastern DR Congo region. Their meeting in Luanda, Angola, comes following a February 17 mini-summit held in Ethiopia at the African Union headquarters, which sought to address the root causes of the conflict in eastern DR Congo where a government-led coalition is fighting the M23 rebels. Under the AU-backed Luanda process, Lourenço is also the mediator between Rwanda and DR Congo, whose relations took a hit as the Congolese government accused Kigali of supporting M23 rebels. The Rwandan government dismisses the allegations, saying the conflict resulted from longstanding issues of bad governance in DR Congo and the collaboration of the Congolese armed forces and the FDLR, a UN-sanctioned terrorist group linked to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. ALSO READ: FDLR integration into DR Congo army must be addressed – Kagame Rwanda has, for years, called on the Congolese government to end the collaboration with the FDLR. The militia group has launched attacks on Rwandan territory over the past two decades. At the mini-summit in the Ethiopian capital, Rwandan President Paul Kagame asked regional leaders to address the issue of FDLR’s integration into the Congolese army. ALSO READ: Rwanda ensures defence measures amid ‘serious threat’ from DR Congo The FDLR is also accused of spreading violence and genocide ideology targeting Congolese Tutsi communities in eastern DR Congo. Tshisekedi’s visit to Luanda also took place as different governments and organisations are pushing to revive the Luanda and Nairobi peace processes, which have been in a stalemate for months. ALSO READ: Regional lawmakers condemn ethnic violence in DR Congo A recent escalation in hostilities in eastern DR Congo raised concerns that the conflict may turn into a regional crisis if it is not contained early. Since early February, M23 rebels have advanced towards Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province, raising fears that they might take control of the city of an estimated two million people. The Rwandan government says it is concerned by, among others, DR Congo’s military build-up near the two country’s border. ALSO READ: DR Congo’s Rwandophone question: What US govt, SA, Tanzanian leaders have said Rwanda hosts up to 100,000 Congolese refugees who fled conflict since the late 1990s. More than 13,000 of them fled the recent conflict between the government-led coalition and the M23 rebel group. Hundreds of thousands more refugees are hosted in Uganda, Burundi and Kenya. Besides the FDLR, the government-led coalition in North Kivu includes troops from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Burundi, European mercenaries and a number of Congolese militias. The Congolese government sought support from the SADC bloc after falling out with the East African Community Regional Force, which was tasked with observing a ceasefire and the M23 rebels’ withdrawal from captured territory as agreed in November 2022 in the Angolan capital Luanda. Just over a year after its deployment, the EAC regional force withdrew its troops from North Kivu in December 2023, when the Congolese’s government refused to renew its mandate, thereby frustrating regional peace efforts. Another ceasefire brokered by the United States government in December 2023 failed to hold. The M23 rebels blamed the government coalition for ignoring the ceasefire. Eastern DR Congo has been volatile for nearly 30 years. The provinces of South Kivu, North Kivu and Ituri are home to more than 130 armed groups that are accused of atrocities and human rights violations. Multiple regional and international interventions have failed to end decades of insecurity.
