EAC-Led DR Congo Peace Talks to Continue in January as 53 Groups Agree Ceasefire
Kenya’s President William Ruto, left at podium, speaks at the opening of the Third Inter-Congolese Consultations of the Nairobi Peace Process, the political track, Nairobi III, at a hotel in Nairobi, Kenya Monday, Nov. 28, 2022.
The conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been going on since the 1990s, taking different shapes and resuming after periods of fragile peace.The next round of peace talks between armed groups from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the country’s government will take place in the new year in eastern DRC, the Community of East African States (EAC), which acts as mediator in the peace process, announced.”A meeting will be held in January in Goma and Bunia to assess progress and begin to address the medium and long-term agenda,” the bloc stated.A ceasefire agreement between 53 armed groups and government forces was achieved during the third round of talks in Kenya over the course of the week and ended on Tuesday. As a sign of commitment to implementing the resolutions of the meeting, a communique was signed by the participants.Negotiators have agreed upon the unconditional cessation of military activities, the creation of a committee on the liberation of prisoners that have no criminal records, as well as the release of underage soldiers.According to former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is one of the organizers of the peace process, the problem cannot be solved overnight, but it is important to lay the foundations for a lasting peace agreement.
“We are happy with the progress; we are not saying we have completed everything but we have managed to achieve some milestones in terms of specific issues that will be undertaken by DRC and others that will be done by the delegates who are here,” said Kenyatta, adding: “We want to see the implementation of the low-hanging fruits by January then we can get to the deeper issues which require more time, more consultation and deliberations with partners because the medium- and long-term aspects are not things that EAC or DRC can do on their own. They require support from development partners.”
He also called for the participants of the conflict to put an end to sexual assaults against women in the region and noted that the M23 rebels may join the peace efforts if they meet its conditions – among other things, to end military actions and retreat from Rutshuru, Kiwanja and Banagana in the North Kivu province.
AfricaAfrican Leaders Announce Ceasefire in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo24 November, 08:27 GMTPreviously, after Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta met in Luanda within the framework of the peace process, the M23 movement said the results of the talks did not concern them because the rebels were not present at the meeting. Later, M23 militants reportedly massacred at least 122 in the town of Kishishe.The EAC-led eastern DRC peace initiative consists of the Nairobi process, which focuses on internal conflict, and the Luanda process, focusing on Kinshasa’s international diplomatic issues.
