Mediator Angola says Congo and M23 rebel group will hold peace talks on Tuesday

Mediator Angola announced on Wednesday that Senegal (AP) – The Congolese government will hold peace talks in Angola next week with the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, which has occupied key areas of the mineral-rich eastern region of Congo.

Angolan President Joe Lorenzo’s office said that the two sides will hold “direct peace negotiations” in the Angolan capital on March 18.

Angola acted as a mediator in the conflict in eastern Congo, which escalated in late January when Rwanda-backed rebels advanced and controlled the Congolese city of Goma, the Congolese strategy. In February, M23 occupied Bukavu, the second largest city in eastern Congo.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi discussed the possibility of peace talks in Angola last Tuesday.

“After the diligence in the mediation of Angola that affects the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Government of the Republic of Angola made public that the delegations of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and M23 will begin direct peace negotiations in the city of Luranda on March 18,” the office of the city of Luransa said in a statement Wednesday.

The Congolese government did not immediately comment on Wednesday.

“We acknowledge and look forward to implementing this Angolan mediation initiative,” President Tshisekedi said on social media on Tuesday.

The news comes after several cancelled peace talks held in Angola, which previously ruled out M23 but focused on supporters in Rwanda.

M23 is one of about 100 armed groups who have a foothold in the mineral-rich Congo mineral-rich near the border with Rwanda, a conflict that has created one of the world’s most important humanitarian crises. More than 7 million people were displaced.

According to UN experts, the rebels were supported by about 4,000 soldiers from neighboring Rwanda, and sometimes vowed to over 1,000 miles to the Congolese capital Kinshasa in March.

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