DR Congo: Negotiators on retreat to iron out sticking issues in peace talks

Representatives of the AFC/M23 movement and DR Congo are in Switzerland for a closed-door retreat aimed at addressing sticking issues that have stalled the Doha peace process. “It is a retreat convened by the mediator to find common ground for the peace talks to continue,” AFC/M23 spokesperson Oscar Balinda told The New Times on Wednesday, August 19. ALSO READ: DR Congo-AFC/M23 talks: Details of new deal emerge The meeting comes as the parties struggle to implement commitments reached under the Qatar-mediated peace process, raising questions about whether the next phase of negotiations could lead to a peace agreement that can end the conflict in eastern DR Congo. The retreat is part of the peace process that began in Doha in April 2025 and before it was moved to Switzerland in April this year amid the Middle East crisis. It follows the Declaration of Principles signed by the parties in Doha on July 19, 2025, which laid the foundation for subsequent confidence-building measures and negotiations. The parties have so far agreed on three out of eight key protocols expected to be implemented before a final peace agreement is signed. ALSO READ: AFC/M23 leader Corneille Nangaa states four reasons why his movement is fighting Tshisekedi govt Prisoner exchange Prisoner exchange was among the first confidence-building measures agreed by the parties in September 2025, with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) entrusted to facilitate the process. When implementation remained stalled, the issue was taken up again during the parties’ five-day meeting in Montreux, Switzerland, from April 13-17, where they agreed on April 26 as the deadline for Kinshasa to release 311 AFC/M23 detainees and the movement to release 166 prisoners. ALSO READ: What next after AFC/M23-Kinshasa talks in Switzerland? The deadline passed without the agreed exchange. AFC/M23 have continuously released FARDC and police personnel bringing the number released since the capture of Goma in early 2025 to at least 1,359. ALSO READ: DR Congo: Deadline elapses for prisoner release Kinshasa released 15 people on August 6-7, who were transferred to Goma under the Doha mechanism, although AFC/M23 later said only nine were among the 786 names it had submitted to the mediator. The ICRC had physically identified 311 detainees held by Kinshasa who have links to AFC/M23. ALSO READ: AFC/M23 says six detainees released by Kinshasa not among its members Ceasefire The same sequence of commitments followed on the ceasefire. After initially agreeing to a ceasefire in April 2025, the parties signed a formal ceasefire monitoring agreement in Doha on October 14, 2025, and later signed the ceasefire monitoring mandate in February 2026. ALSO READ: What we know as M23, DR Congo set up ceasefire monitoring team Balinda said the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism Plus (EJVM+) remains active despite continued hostilities. “The team is independent and reports directly to the mediation and is currently active in Goma. We alert them with ceasefire violations by Kinshasa from our side, and we expect it to be effective,” he said. ALSO READ: DR Congo deploys ceasefire monitoring team to Goma as fighting continues Humanitarian access The Montreux meeting also discussed humanitarian access and legal commitments in the conflict-affected region, although the parties did not reach a formal agreement on those issues. ALSO READ: AFC/M23 deputy head condemns bias, double standards over DR Congo crisis The parties now have five major areas to be addressed before a final peace agreement. These include restoration of state authority; reforms and provisions for national participatory governance; interim security arrangements, including DDR of local armed groups and neutralisation of foreign armed groups; identity and citizenship, including the return and resettlement of internally displaced people and refugees; and economic and social recovery, justice, truth and reconciliation. Hurdles facing the peace process The retreat in Switzerland comes with several unresolved issues that continue to limit progress on the ground, including the incomplete prisoner exchange, ceasefire violations, military build-up, sanctions, banking restrictions and humanitarian concerns. ALSO READ: Bisimwa condemns ‘indifference’ of mediators amid Kinshasa’s attacks Analysts: Implementation, not more agreements, is the priority Former Rwandan diplomat and crisis observer Amb Joseph Mutaboba said the Doha process has already produced a sufficient framework for the parties to begin delivering on their commitments. “The Great Lakes region does not suffer from a shortage of agreements. It suffers from a shortage of implementation,” Mutaboba said. He said the focus of the next round talks should therefore be on going through the commitments already made, determining what has been implemented, what remains outstanding and which party is responsible for each obligation. “The overall implementation has been far too slow and remains incomplete,” he said, pointing to the limited progress on the prisoner exchange as an example. While the release of 15 detainees was a step forward, he said, it cannot substitute for the wider commitments previously agreed by the parties. He argued that the process now needs measurable targets, including clear deadlines and independent verification, rather than another round of broad commitments. “Do not negotiate again what has already been negotiated. Implement it, verify it and then negotiate what genuinely remains unresolved,” he said. ALSO READ: Nangaa rejects Tshisekedi's attempt at peace talks in Luanda Bojana Coulibaly, an analyst of Great Lakes political and security dynamics, said the AFC/M23 movement is unlikely to see value in new commitments when existing confidence-building measures have not been fully implemented. She said implementation will be more difficult when the parties are discussing a political settlement while fighting continues. “There is no possibility to implement Doha if Kinshasa continues to see war or military solution as a form of resolving the conflict,” Coulibaly said.

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DR Congo: Negotiators on retreat to iron out sticking issues in peace talks