Angola says it has secured a new ceasefire deal in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, signalling renewed diplomatic efforts to stop fighting and a long-running war of words between Kinshasa and Kigali.
The decision was arrived at on July 30 in Luanda, the Angolan capital, where top diplomats from Rwanda and the DRC had gathered on the invitation of their host, Angola.
It means the new ceasefire between the Congolese army, FARDC, and the M23 rebels will kick in from midnight on August 4, Téte António, Angola’s minister for External Relations, said on Tuesday night.
This will be the second such ceasefire brokered by an external entity in a month.
Last month, the US announced it had secured pledges from parties to stop fighting for two weeks to allow humanitarian responses.
The ceasefire agreed Tuesday will be supervised by the reinforced Verification Mechanism, according to Angola’s Presidency.
Mr António chaired the Second Ministerial Meeting on the Security and Peace Situation in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), part of what is known as the Luanda Process under the mediation of Angola.
The Luanda Process is the African Union-endorsed peace bid to help calm tensions between Rwanda and DRC, blamed for the continual conflict in eastern DRC. Kinshasa has accused Kigali of fuelling the M23 rebellion, a charge Rwanda has persistently denied, despite UN and US reports corroborating the accusation.
Rwanda, on its part, accuses Kinshasa of supporting FDLR, remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide.
But the Luanda bid has been dragged and almost stalled on various occasions, especially after Rwanda and DRC upped their bickering and, at some point, cut diplomatic channels.
Earlier this year, the leaders of two sides agreed to reopen those channels, via Luanda.
Yet the latest ministerial meeting itself came late.
According to Luanda, the meeting could not take place as earlier scheduled due to the escalation of the situation on the ground, aggravated by the bombing of the Mugunga refugee camp on May 3, as well as the changes in the portfolios of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs both in DRC and Rwanda. The two countries have recently held elections and shuffled ministers.
Earlier in February, DRC President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame visited Luanda to agree on dialogue, after which ministers gathered there to discuss the future of those talks.
Before the latest meeting, President João Lourenço privately met with DRC’s Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and La Francophonie Thérèse Wagner, and with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Rwanda Olivier Nduhungirehe.
President Lourenço is the African Champion of Peace and Reconciliation, and mediator mandated by the AU for the peace process in the DRC also known as the Luanda Process.
Last week, DRC President Félix Tshisekedi said his Kenyan counterpart William Ruto had mismanaged the Nairobi Process and that his country was only depending on the Luanda Process led by President Lourenço.
Angola has called the negative forces in the east DRC to fully implement the peace commitments, with a view to ceasing hostilities on the ground.
The call was expressed by the military counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Angola to the UN in New York, Colonel José Filomeno da Fonseca, at the meeting of the Sanctions Committee 1,533 of the Security Council on the DRC.
According to the diplomat, these initiatives are aimed at encouraging dialogue at the highest level and re-establishing an environment of trust between the two sides, in order to prevent the current political crisis from growing into a regional conflict.
Earlier this month, a UN envoy highlighted the alarming violence and neglected humanitarian crisis in DR Congo, adding that the security situation has resulted in high levels of violence and widespread civilian displacement.
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General Binue Keita also reported a rise in cases of sexual and gender-based violence with 122,960 cases recorded in 2023, an increase of three percent from 2022.
Washington said it would monitor violations.
” The United States welcomes the open-ended ceasefire in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) announced by Angola on July 30. We applaud the Government of Angola, and in particular Angolan President and AU.
“Champion for Peace and Reconciliation João Lourenço, for his mediation efforts. We welcome the Angola-led Ad Hoc Verification Mechanism’s important role in monitoring the ceasefire. We commend the governments of the DRC and Rwanda for their commitment to pursue negotiations to end this conflict.
“The United States stands ready to support the implementation and monitoring of the ceasefire, in particular through the Angolan Ad Hoc Verification Mechanism’s efforts. As the ceasefire is implemented, we call on all actors to respect human rights, adhere to applicable obligations under international humanitarian law, and hold accountable all actors for human rights.”
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