Qatar hosts talks with Congo and Rwanda, also meets with rebels

Qatari mediators hosted a second round of talks on Friday between Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, and separately met representatives of the Rwandan-backed rebellion waging an insurgency in eastern Congo, four sources told Reuters.

Congo President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame met last week in Doha for their first talks since M23 rebels stepped up an offensive there in January.

The talks between Tshisekedi and Kagame, and their subsequent call for a ceasefire, provided a glimmer of hope for a de-escalation of eastern Congo’s biggest conflict in decades.

But M23 dismissed those calls, saying peace could only be achieved through direct talks with Kinshasa, and continued its offensive with the capture of a strategic town.

M23 representatives met Qatari mediators in Doha on Friday and did not hold talks with the Congolese or Rwandan officials also in town, said the sources, two from the Congolese government and two from the rebels.

The content of the discussions was not clear. Qatar’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Congo, the United Nations and Western governments say Rwanda is supporting the rebels by sending troops and arms.

Kigali has denied helping M23, saying its forces are acting in self-defence against Congo’s army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide that killed around 1 million people, mostly ethnic Tutsis.

‘Indignation’ about Ugandan comments

The conflict has raised fears of a wider regional war, with the armies of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi having all participated in the fighting.

Farther north, Uganda also has thousands of troops in eastern Congo. They are helping Kinshasa fight another militia but are viewed with suspicion by many Congolese given Uganda’s intervention in past wars against Congo’s government and accusations by U.N. experts last year that Kampala was providing support to M23.

Uganda denied the U.N. experts’ allegations.

In a sign of possible diplomatic strains, a Congolese general on Friday expressed “indignation” about social media comments by the head of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) last weekend that threatened to seize a city in northern Congo.

“UPDF will not oppose M23’s seizure of Kisangani. But they better move quickly otherwise we will do it ourselves,” Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who is President Yoweri Museveni’s son and regularly makes inflammatory social media posts, had written.

General Jacques Ychaligonza, who is in charge of operations and intelligence for Congo’s military, was asked by reporters about Kainerugaba’s comments after a meeting with a Ugandan counterpart in the city of Bunia.

“If it is true that this is the Ugandan military chief’s account, we have expressed our indignation,” he said. “We told them that we are not at all happy about that.”

UPDF spokesperson Chris Magezi said Ugandan forces had no ill-will towards Congo and that the two countries were working together closely.

“The X platform is not an official channel, so people should not take it seriously,” he told Reuters.

In an interview, Congo’s foreign minister, Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, said the joint Congolese-Ugandan operations against the Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamic State affiliate, were going well.

“We are happy … that we have good communication channels with the UPDF that enable us also to react to dynamics on the ground,” she said. 

(Reuters)