Rwandan President Paul Kagame and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have held a phone conversation over current security situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where M23 rebels are bearing down on key cities in the region.
Taking to Twitter, President Kagame confirmed a few hours after the chat that he had what he called fruitful talks with the UN scribe about the escalating conflict in DR Congo.
According to him, the talks focused on ways and means of de-escalating and addressing the challenges to a peaceful end to the conflict and building on the peace initiatives in Nairobi, Kenya and Luanda, Angola.
“We just have to commit ourselves to applying them,” Kagame said while apparently referring to the peace agreement signed in 2013 between the government of the DR Congo and M23 rebels in the Kenyan capital.
M23 were once part of the country’s army, but mutinied in 2012, accusing the government of not honoring a 2009 peace deal.
The rebels turned against the DRC government, citing poor conditions in the army and the government’s unwillingness to implement the 23 March 2009 peace deal.
The peace treaty gave then the rebel movement to become a political party, and the M23 soldiers be integrated into the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC).
Kinshasa has accused Kigali of backing the M23 rebels, who have been involved in a series of clashes with the army since the end of May.
Paul Kagame’s government has denied the claims and instead accused the DR Congo of embedding the genocidal FDLR militia into its army and supporting it to destabilize Rwanda.
CU/as/APA