Peace talks between the leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to end the conflict in the eastern DRC have been called off, according to the Angolan presidency, which has been mediating between the two sides.
“Contrary to what we expected, the summit will no longer be held today,” the presidency’s media officer Mario Jorge told journalists on Sunday, without elaborating on why the meeting was cancelled at the last minute.
Angolan President Joao Lourenco – the African Union mediator to end the conflict – was meeting alone with DRC leader Felix Tshisekedi, Jorge said.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame had been expected at the meeting but it was not clear if he was in Angola.
There had been hopes the talks would reach an agreement to end the conflict in the eastern DRC, where the M23 fighter group – which the DRC and the UN say is backed by Rwanda – has seized swaths of territory, displacing thousands and triggering a major humanitarian crisis.
The DRC presidency said negotiations had hit deadlock over a Rwandan demand that DRC hold direct dialogue with the M23 rebels.
Before the talks, fighting intensified between the DRC army and the M23 rebel group on Friday.
The DRC’s army had accused M23 of killing 12 civilians earlier this week in villages of the Lubero territory in the eastern province of North Kivu.
An M23 spokesperson, however, denied the accusation, discrediting it as “propaganda” from the DRC government.
M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in the mineral-rich eastern part of DRC near the border with Rwanda.
The conflict there has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with more than seven million people displaced.
Credit: aljazeera.com
