Angola announced Monday that it will withdraw from its role as a mediator in the Eastern Democratic Republic (DRC) conflict between government forces and M23 rebel groups to focus on the African Union (AU) presidency.
Angola President Joao Lourenzo was appointed mediator by the AU in 2022 to intensify the attack in January and end the conflict, including the M23, which seized large-scale lands in the mineral-rich eastern DRC.
Rwanda has denied providing military aid to the M23. President Paul Kagame’s administration says it faces regional threats for the FDLR group, founded by the leaders of the ethnic HUTU who were involved in the 1994 Tuttis massacre in Rwanda.
“Angola recognizes the need to free itself from the responsibility to mediate this conflict… to bring a more comprehensive focus on the general priorities established by continental organizations,” the president said in a statement.
“Angola has always believed in the need for direct negotiations between the DRC government and M23,” the president added.
Since the end of 2021, several ceasefires and trances have been agreed before they break.
Angola, who won the AU revolving presidency two months ago, said he would work with the AU committee to find another mediator.
“Fruitful Meeting”
The announcement comes less than a week after a talk scheduled to be held in Angola’s capital, Luanda, was cancelled after M23 was pulled out after imposing EU sanctions on some of its top brass.
Referring to the cancelled story of Luanda, the Angola presidency said negotiations were halted “due to a combination of factors that include several external elements that are not related to the ongoing African process.”
On the same day as the scheduled meeting in Luanda, the Qatar government announced that it had hosted Kagame and his Congolese counterpart, Felix Tssisekedi, for a speech.
After the meeting, Qatari officials issued a statement. The president said he reaffirmed his commitment to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, as agreed at the African summit in February.
“The fruitful conference helped us build trust in the shared commitment to a safe and stable future for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the region,” the statement added.
Despite recent attempts to mediate a ceasefire, the M23 controlled the mining hub in Warikale last week. This is the farthest western part of the group’s entry into the interior of DRC since 2012.
