DRC, M23 talks delayed

PRELIMINARY meetings for talks between the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo and M23 rebels have been delayed by among other reasons, the need to determine who the talks’ observers should be. The talks, aimed at resolving the conflict in eastern DRC, were supposed to officially begin on Friday.Uganda’s State Minister for International Relations, Henry Okello Oryem, said yesterday that the ICGLR mediator Uganda’s Minister of Defence, Dr Chrispus Kiyonga, was engaged in meetings with both parties to agree on the observers of the meeting. “So many international organisations like the EU, UN, SADC want to attend the meeting as observers, so we have been delayed by sorting out who should attend the talks and who shouldn’t,” he said.The Executive Director of the Uganda Media Centre, Fred Opolot, had on Thursday said that initial meetings will focus on fixing the “ground rules and working framework” for the subsequent main body of talks.“The mediator and the two parties were also delayed by understanding which Television station should broadcast the talks,” Oryem said.“While some preferred radio, others wanted TV. But we agreed that all that should be sorted out tonight so that the talks begin tomorrow (today).” Earlier, M23’s Head of External Relations Rene Abandi told The New Times that their 25 member delegation arrived in Kampala late for the talks, citing “the long journey from Bunagana.”He refuted reports that his group had earlier had disagreements on the composition of officials for the talks.M23 Secretary General François Tuyimbaze is leading the M23 delegation while DRC foreign minister Raymond Tshibanda, is leading the Congo government side for the talks.

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DRC, M23 talks delayed