Luanda has been leading diplomatic efforts to heal ruptured relations between Kigali and Kinshasa which suffered a new low over heightened insecurity in eastern DR Congo.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Friday held talks with his Angolan counterpart João Lourenço to normalize relations between Rwanda and DR Congo which had traded accusations of backing each other’s rebels.
Lourenço as chair of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), serves as the facilitator of the peace efforts between Rwanda and DR Congo, through the Luanda roadmap.
DR Congo has accused Rwanda of backing M23 rebels as they advanced in recent weeks on key towns in the east of the country.
The government of Felix Tshisekedi recently expelled the Rwandan ambassador to Kinshasa, citing Kigali’s role in aiding and abetting the rebel’s latest campaign against the Congolese military.
Kigali has in turn repeatedly accused Kinshasa of integrating what it called the genocidal FDLR forces into its FARDC army and empowered them to shell Rwandan territory from DR Congo.
In the first week of November, DR Congo Foreign Minister Christophe Lutundula met with his Rwandan counterpart Vincent Biruta in Angola in the latest attempt to defuse tensions between the two neighbors.
The M23 was defeated by Congo’s army (FARDC) and special MONUSCO forces in 2013 but have since regrouped and by November 2021 began its campaign in the east of the country.
CU/as/APA