Qatar hosts Rwanda and DRC leaders as they back ceasefire after failed talks [Getty]
The presidents of Rwanda and DR Congo met Tuesday in Qatar and expressed their support for a ceasefire, a joint statement said, a day after peace talks in Angola failed.
The Rwanda-backed M23 armed group launched a massive offensive in the mineral-rich east of the DRC earlier this year, taking two major cities.
Rwandan leader Paul Kagame and DRC President Felix Tshisekedi met with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the statement from the three countries said.
“The heads of state reaffirmed the commitment of all parties to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire” as agreed at an African summit last month, the statement said.
The “fruitful meeting… helped build confidence in a shared commitment to a secure and stable future for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the region”, it added.
Earlier on Tuesday, Angola said DRC peace talks had been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances — a possible reference to the M23 group’s no-show.
Since January, the M23 – which claims to defend the interests of Congolese Tutsis – has seized the key cities of Goma and Bukavu in a lightning advance that has killed more than 7,000 people, according to the DRC.
Rwanda denies providing the M23 with military assistance but says it faces a threat in the DRC’s east from the FDLR group, founded by ethnic Hutu leaders involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide of the Tutsis.
