Angolan President João Lourenço has stressed the urgent need for Congolese authorities to engage in talks with the AFC/M23 rebels, saying “dialogue is the only solution” to the escalating security situation in eastern DR Congo. Lourenço, who is the mediator of African Union-backed Luanda process for DR Congo, told French magazine Jeune Afrique that other leaders had urged Congolese President to negotiate with the rebels rather than pursue a military solution. ALSO READ: M23 threatens to move on Bukavu to ‘protect our people’ The AFC/M23 took control of strategic city of Goma on January 27 and have since threatened to advance on Bukavu city on their way to the capital Kinshasa. “The Congolese authorities are aware and we have advised Tshisekedi to talk to all parties, including M23 since they are Congolese citizens,” Lourenço said in an interview with Jeune Afrique published on Thursday, February 14. Drawing from his country’s lessons from 1975 to 2002 during the Angolan civil war, Lourenço said that “when a conflict pits compatriots against one another, dialogue is the only solution.” “This good example has been reiterated many times remind President Tshisekedi that sooner or later there is no way out of this [conflict].” ALSO READ: M23 warns of military build-up by FARDC, Burundian forces in South Kivu Lourenço has mediated the Luanda process since mid-2022, when the rebels had started to capture territories in eastern DR Congo’s North Kivu province. His reaction comes nearly a week after leaders of the East African Community (EAC) alongside those of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) met in Dar es Salam, Tanzania and called the Congolese leader to engage the rebels in talks. The Angolan leader said he would give the baton of the mediation of Luanda process to another head of state as he is now the incoming Chairperson of the African Union. The Luanda process, which was initiated to address diplomatic tension between Rwanda and DR Congo over the allegation that Kigali supported M23, hit a snag in mid-December after the Congolese government declined a to sign an agreement that would pave way of direct negotiation with the rebels. The conflict reached its largest escalation with the fall of Goma. The EAC and SADC leaders also resolved to merge the Luanda process and the Nairobi process for eastern DR Congo into one process.
