NAIROBI (Reuters) – The political blocs of Southern and Eastern Africa have expanded the mediation team for negotiating an end to the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel offensive in eastern Congo, at a heads of state meeting on Monday that Rwanda described as fruitful.
Diplomatic efforts to resolve eastern Congo’s biggest conflict in decades appeared to have stalled last week when the M23 failed to attend peace talks with the Congolese government in Angola, and later captured the strategic town of Walikale.
The violence, rooted in the long fallout from the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and competition for control of mineral riches, has led to rebel control of eastern Congo’s two largest cities, thousands of deaths and fears of a wider regional war.
The Southern and Eastern Africa blocs appointed five former heads of state, including Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo, South Africa’s Kgalema Motlanthe and Ethiopia’s Sahle-Work Zewde to “facilitate” the peace process, they said in a statement early on Tuesday.
Congo’s presidency said on X the new panel would appoint a mediator to replace the president of Angola, who withdrew on Monday following years of faltering efforts to ease tensions between Rwanda and Congo.
Rwanda’s government, which is facing sanctions and had some aid suspended over its reported provision of arms and troops to M23, said on X the leaders attending Monday’s summit “committed to a political solution that addresses the security concerns of all parties.”
Congo accuses M23 of being a Rwandan proxy. Rwanda denies involvement, but also says its forces are acting in self defence against Congo’s army and militias hostile to Kigali.
The Angolan government expressed frustration last week about a surprise meeting arranged by Qatar’s emir between Congo President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame, the first face-to-face meeting between the two men since the conflict escalated towards the end of last year.
Tshisekedi and Kagame issued a joint statement along with Qatar that called for an “immediate and unconditional” ceasefire, but which failed to halt the violence.
M23 withdrew from what could have been its first direct negotiations with Kinshasa last week after the European Union imposed sanctions against rebel and Rwandan officials.
(Reporting by Congo Newsroom; Writing by Hereward Holland; Editing by Kim Coghill)
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