Rwanda’s Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente, on Friday, June 2, arrived in Luanda, Angola, to attend the 10th Extraordinary Summit of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) that began Saturday.
Angola’s President Joao Lourenço is the chairperson of the ICGLR, a 12-member bloc.
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It is not yet clear what is on the agenda of the summit, but the security crisis in eastern DR Congo has been the region’s focus since at least mid-2022 when the Luanda Process was initiated to find a way out of the conflict between the Congolese army and the M23 rebel group.
The head of Angolan diplomacy Amb. Tete Antonio on Friday chaired a meeting of the ICGLR foreign ministers.
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DR Congo accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebels, allegations Kigali dismisses. On the other hand, the Congolese army is accused of collaborating with the FDLR, a UN-sanctioned terrorist group formed by the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
Bilateral relations between Rwanda and DR Congo took a hit from the conflict, with Kinshasa expelling Kigali’s ambassador in October 2022.
Under the Luanda Process, Lourenço serves as the African Union’s mediator between DR Congo and Rwanda.
The UN-backed Luanda Process runs in parallel with the Nairobi Process, which is led by the East African Community (EAC) in efforts to try restore peace and security in eastern DR Congo.
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The EAC deployed a regional force to eastern DR Congo in November 2022 to help secure the withdrawal of the M23 and other rebel groups. With troops from Kenya, Burundi, Uganda and South Sudan, the regional force has since occupied the M23’s vacated positions in North Kivu province.
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The summit of EAC leaders on May 31 extended the mandate of the regional force until September.
Eastern DR Congo is home to more than 130 foreign and local armed groups, which are responsible for numerous atrocities. The region has remained volatile for nearly three decades.
Multiple interventions, including the United Nations’ peacekeeping mission in the country (MONUSCO), failed to end decades of violence in the country.