Talks over a peace deal between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) and defeated M23 rebels have failed, in a setback to international efforts to stabilize the African nation’s conflict-prone east.
The peace negotiations failed after Kinshasa demanded changes to the agreement, officials said.
The DR Congo “delegation has aborted the signing of agreement with M23,” Ugandan government spokesman Ofwono Opondo said on Monday, adding that their meeting in Uganda was adjourned without a new date being scheduled.
Photo: Reuters
The M23 rebels, one of many armed groups operating in the mineral-rich, but impoverished east of the DR Congo, have been routed by the Congolese army, who are backed by the 3,000-strong UN Mission in the DR Congo’s Intervention Brigade.
Seemingly abandoned by their sponsors due to international pressure, the M23 last week said their 18-month insurgency was over.
Despite the failure of the talks, Congolese Minister of Foreign Affairs Raymond Tshibanda said Kinshasa was committed to peace.
“We have been engaged in this process for several months now... We have encountered some difficulties over issues important to us and we think that these difficulties can be removed before finalizing the process,” he said.
The failure to sign a deal will disappoint many, with UN Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Mary Robinson telling reporters that signing the accord would be “a very important step for peace.”
A joint statement released by Robinson and the UN Secretary-General’s special representative in the DR Congo Martin Kobler voiced regret that the Kampala Dialogue had not been concluded, but added that the parties involved “expressed no differences on substantive points within the draft document.”
The statement, also signed by African Union and EU officials, urged all involved to resolve their differences and “remain committed to a peaceful settlement of the conflict.”
The signatories emphasized that any solution must allow the pursuit of war criminals.
Delegations from both Kinshasa and the rebels arrived on Monday evening at Uganda’s State House in Entebbe, where the rebels had been expected to formalize the end of their rebellion in writing.
International observers, including from the UN and African Union, as well as from Belgium, Britain, France and Norway, were also there to witness the deal, Opondo said.
With the Congolese government stalling, it is not immediately certain what will happen next, but Ugandan Minister of Defense and chief mediator Crispus Kiyonga said he remained optimistic.
“We have a problem on our hands in eastern DRC which everybody has agreed needs a political solution ... so, I think, an agreement will be reached,” Kiyonga said.
The M23, a mainly ethnic Tutsi force of mutineers from the Congolese army, have no military leverage left and little room for maneuver.
A key outstanding issue is the fate of about 1,500 M23 fighters who have crossed into Uganda and are languishing in camps along the border. Kampala has refused to hand them over to Kinshasa.
About 100 more injured rebels have crossed into Rwanda.
Kinshasa has said the rebels would be dealt with “case by case.” Many rank-and-file fighters were expected to be given the option to return to the Congolese army.
More complicated is the fate of about 100 M23 commanders. These include M23 leader Sultani Makenga, who is accused of participating in massacres, mutilations, abductions and committing sexual violence.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in