Third Luanda ministerial meeting on DR Congo due on Tuesday

The third meeting of foreign ministers from Rwanda, DR Congo and Angola will take place on Tuesday, August 20-21, in Luanda to discuss a proposal for lasting peace in eastern DR Congo developed by Angolan President Joao Lourenço. It follows a meeting intelligence experts which convened in the Angolan capital on August 7-8 to discuss a neutralisation plan for the FDLR militia, among other ways to address insecurity in eastern DR Congo. ALSO READ: Rwanda’s problem with Congo is FDLR, says Kagame Lourenço, the mediator between Rwanda and DR Congo, told a meeting of leaders from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) on Saturday, that he submitted the proposal to Presidents Paul Kagame and Felix Tshisekedi during his visits to Kigali and Kinshasa on August 11 and 12, respectively. The ministerial meeting is also expected to receive the report of the meeting of intelligence experts. ALSO READ: Ramaphosa to meet Lourenco over DR Congo crisis The Luanda Process, an African Union-backed initiative, started in mid-2022 to address the Rwanda-DR Congo diplomatic tensions, which resulted from the war between the Congolese army and the M23 rebels. The Congolese government also accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebels, allegation Kigali dismisses, saying the conflict is a result of DR Congo’s internal governance issues and the persecution of the Congolese Tutsi communities. ALSO READ: M23 rebels want ongoing ceasefire to ‘open door to dialogue’ Rwanda has expressed its security concerns about the integration of the FDLR, a militia linked to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, into the Congolese army. The UN-sanctioned terrorist group accused of spreading genocide ideology and hate speech against the Congolese Tutsi is part a coalition of the Congolese army fighting the M23 rebels in North Kivu province. The Rwandan government says the FDLR not only threatens Rwanda's security but also the wider Great Lakes Region. ALSO READ: UN official renews call to hold genocidaires in DR Congo accountable The United Nations Special Advisor Alice Wairimu Nderitu said in late July that the presence in eastern DR Congo of the militia implicated in the Genocide against the Tutsi fed into a “cycle of impunity.” “As we commemorate 30 years after the Genocide against the Tutsi, there are more than 1,000 indictments and international arrest warrants in 33 countries for perpetrators of the Genocide against the Tutsi,” Nderitu said as she concluded a week-long visit to Rwanda. “Some of these indicted people, in their hundreds, are based in the [DR Congo]. It is unacceptable that these people have not been brought to trial yet.” “Accountability is the first step towards breaking the cycle of impunity and recurrence,” said Nderitu, adding that risk factor for genocide in eastern DR Congo “remain grimly high.”

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Third Luanda ministerial meeting on DR Congo due on Tuesday