DR Congo could have “direct negotiations” with M23 rebels in the coming days, Angola said on Tuesday, March 11. This comes after Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, who has long denied talks with the rebels, visited his Angolan counterpart João Lourenço on Tuesday. The M23 rebels, who are part of the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), took control of Goma and Bukavu, two major cities in eastern DR Congo, forcing government soldiers to flee or surrender. Lourenço “,will establish contacts with the M23, so that delegations from [DR Congo] and the M23 carry out direct negotiations to take place in Luanda in the next few days, with a view to negotiating definitive peace in that brother country,” the Angolan presidency said in Tuesday. This could be the first direct engagement between the Congolese government and the M23 rebel group. Since mid-2022, the Angolan leader served as a mediator of the Luanda peace process for DR Congo, which collapsed in December 2024 after the Congolese government refused to sign an agreement that would pave a way for direct negotiations with the rebels, who now control the capital cities of North and South Kivu provinces. The Luanda process also sought mend relations between Rwanda and DR Congo, which were affected by Kinshasa’s allegations that Kigali supported the rebel group. Rwanda dismisses the allegations, pointing to its security concerns such as DR Congo’s collaboration with FDLR, a UN-sanctioned militia linked to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Tshisekedi has faced mounting pressure from local opposition, including his predecessor Joseph Kabila, who recently accused him of mismanaging the crisis. He has also faced growing calls from regional leaders and international community to hold talks with rebels. The AFC/M23 accused the Congolese government of supporting militias bent on ethnic cleansing of the Congolese Tutsi community. These militias include the FDLR, which is part of the Congolese government coalition fighting the M23. The coalition includes Burundian forces, troops from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), European mercenaries and local armed groups known as Wazalendo.
