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DR Congo leader rejects direct talks with M23 armed group

DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi Saturday ruled out direct talks with the Rwanda-backed M23, saying it would give legitimacy to the armed group which occupies much of the country's east. A planned December 15 summit in Angola between Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame was cancelled at the last moment when the two sides could…
Tshisekedi
President Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Photo: AFP

DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi Saturday ruled out direct talks with the Rwanda-backed M23, saying it would give legitimacy to the armed group which occupies much of the country’s east.

A planned December 15 summit in Angola between Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame was cancelled at the last moment when the two sides could not agree on terms for the talks.

Tshisekedi told diplomats in Kinshasa that the talks failed because of “the introduction by the Rwandan delegation of a new precondition, namely the demand for direct dialogue between the Democratic Republic of Congo and the M23 terrorist group”.

“Dialogue with a terrorist group like the M23 is a red line that we will never cross” he said, because it would be “tantamount to legitimising actions that violate our laws and fundamental principles.”

M23, or the “Movement of March 23”, is backed by Kigali and Rwandan troops, and since 2021 has occupied wide swathes of the conflict-ridden and mineral-rich east of the DRC.

In Paris on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron and Angolan President Joao Lourenco called for the resumption of talks “at the highest level” between the DRC and Rwanda.

Lourenco has been appointed by the African Union (AU) to mediate between Kigali and Kinshasa.

Tshisekedi said his country will “never submit to outside pressure to impose conditions that contravene our principles and sovereignty”.

At least 237,000 people have been displaced since the start of January by fighting between the DRC army and M23, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

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