Democratic Republic of the Congo
EAC Leaders Announce Peace Talks In Nairobi To Stabilize & Calm Eastern DR Congo
East African Community (EAC) leaders on Sunday announced peace talks in a bid to stabilize eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where M23 rebels clashed with troops in the north of the Goma city over the weekend, reported The Eyewitness News.
The seven-nation EAC said on Sunday that it would hold a peace dialogue on November 21 in Kenya’s capital Nairobi.
The announcement came as Congolese troops clashed with the M23 rebels in the north of volatile region’s main city Goma. According to army sources, the military clashes with the M23 in Mwaro, a village about 20 kilometres north of the important commercial hub of one million people.
M23 rebels have recently surged across the DRC’s North Kivu province, capturing swathes of territory.
On Saturday, the rebel group accused the DR Congo army of retaliating with bombings, killing 15 civilians, including two children.
The latest violence comes one day after Kenyan troops deployed to eastern DRC, as part of a peacekeeping operation from the EAC bloc.
In April, the EAC-led talks between the Congolese government and representatives of various armed groups operating the country’s eastern region started in Nairobi, Kenya. The talks, however, stalled after the Congolese government labelled the M23 as a terrorist movement following renewed fighting in May and banned them from the talks.
The EAC has since attempted to resume the talks, calling for inclusivity in an apparent allusion to the M23. According to the EAC statement, the Nairobi talks will resume on November 21.
“The inter-Congolese dialogue under the EAC-led peace process has been re-energized to incorporate local DRC community leaders and stakeholders to bring a comprehensive solution to the protracted security situation,” the statement said.
It currently remains unclear if the M23 group will attend, given the fact that the Congolese government wants the rebels to withdraw from the occupied territories, a condition which the rebel group has denied.
