The leader of the AFC/M23 movement, Corneille Nangaa, has rejected renewed attempts by Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi to divert ongoing peace talks to Angola, insisting that Qatar-mediaded negotiations should resume where the Doha process left off. ALSO READ: Togo hosts high-level talks on DR Congo crisis Earlier this month, Tshisekedi met his Angolan counterpart João Lourenço to explore the possibility of shifting mediation back to Luanda, whose efforts to end the conflict became futile in December 2024, after Kinshasa rejected direct peace talks with the rebels. In a January 9 letter to Lourenço seen by The New Times, the rebel leader questioned the legitimacy and relevance of reopening the Angolan track, particularly at a time the Doha framework is valid. In an interview with American scholar and Great Lakes conflict researcher Bojana Coulibaly, Nangaa said Tshisekedi’s attempt at the second Luanda process undermine continuity in peace efforts and disregard the Qatar-led process, which he described as the only framework that has delivered tangible progress. In April 2025, Doha hosted the first direct peace talks between the Congolese government and the rebels since the war began in late 2021. For us, the Doha process is the one that was able to advance the peace file, said Nangaa, whose movement now controls swathes of territory in eastern DR Congo. We are in the middle of the discussion in Doha and we wait for Tshisekedi there, if he wants more or less a negotiated solution to the crisis. ALSO READ: Regional defence ministers meet in Zambia over DR Congo crisis The first Luanda process, which had began in mid-2022, sought to restore diplomatic relations between Rwanda and DR Congo by address the root causes of the conflict in eastern DR Congo, including the presence of the Kinshasa-backed FDLR terrorist group founded by perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. However, the Angola's mediation failed after Kinshasa declined to engage the rebels as part of the paths to peace. As Kinshasa frustrated attempts at peace talks in Nairobi and Luanda, Nangaa described Tshisekedi's latest move as disruptive and humiliating. “This is how we were first in Nairobi, unfortunately without completing this process [in 2022]. Mr Tshisekedi, doing this temper tantrum, moved it to Luanda-Angola, Nangaa said. We also went there because we are showing good faith. In the same stride we were almost at the point of signing more or less the first element. Mr Tshisekedi did not find satisfaction there, moved the process, without even informing President Lourenco, it is very humiliating,” Nangaa said. ALSO READ: Nangaa’s family says they are targeted by DR Congo intel agencies He noted that the Doha mediation has yielded concrete outcomes in less than one year, including the July 19 Declaration of Principles, negotiations on prisoner releases, and a ceasefire agreement, a peace framework agreement ccompanied by a proposed monitoring and verification mechanism. “And the peace framework agreement has defined eight protocols that we were to follow and which we were to be an integral part of this agreement. Two of these protocols were buried but we were only waiting for the implementation. It includes the release of prisoners; by his bad faith, [Tshisekedi] has never released a single prisoner, when we have already released so many,” lamented Nangaa. ALSO READ: AFC/M23 leader Corneille Nangaa states four reasons why his movement is fighting Tshisekedi govt He further accused Tshisekedi of blocking the ceasefire verification mechanism. “The second mechanism was related of course to the monitoring and verification of the ceasefire. Tshisekedi never wanted to implement that protocol. The proof of that is he continues to bomb, to attack us. The last bombing in Masisi is part of it. This means that he does not accept the implementation of ceasefire,” he said. ALSO READ: AFC/M23, DR Congo sign ceasefire monitoring agreement As the talks were still ongoing in Doha, the Congolese president sought to revive the Luanda process. “The other six protocols were under discussion. While we were in Doha, we still see him lost and he re-entered in Luanda. We were contacted by President Lourenço, to whom we pay tribute. We made him see that you have been humiliated a year ago, you are still at risk of entering the same dance,” Nangaa reiterated. These initiatives are good, but we want to see consistency While acknowledging other initiatives, including the Washington agreement between Kinshasa and Kigali, Nangaa called for coherence across mediation efforts. “We are for peace, we expect him in Doha, that’s what it is about... All these initiatives are good, but we want to see consistency, relevance, and especially that we arrive at a real solution,” he said. Nangaa accused Tshisekedi of lacking political will to resolve the conflict. In any case we are aware of one thing: Mr Tshisekedi does not want a solution to the crisis, he wants to perpetuate the war. For him, war has become a business. The war for him is there to justify his inabilities. His managerial failure is covered by war.” ALSO READ: Ceasefire tops the agenda as Kinshasa, AFC/M23 resume peace talks He also alleged corruption within the Congolese government and accused the armed forces (FARDC) of targeting civilians. “FARDC don’t want to fight anymoro, they flee. Then to pretend to show that they are always at war, Tshisekedi took the strategy to use the air force but not to bomb our forces, but to bomb the civilian population, create terror... We remind those whom we are at war with that war must remain conventional. Bombarding civilians is a crime,” Nangaa said. “The AFC/M23 remains attached to political solution, to discussion of the complexity DR Congo is experiencing, and it’s for that reason that AFC has always responded to each invitation or process that it has been engaged in.”
