Qatar successfully brokered a surprise meeting in March between DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame. The two leaders called for a ceasefire after the meeting.
In April the DRC and M23 issued statements pledging to work towards peace, though sources in the two camps expressed patience over the pace of the talks in Doha.
The DRC said Rwanda is supporting M23 by sending troops and arms.
Rwanda has long denied helping M23, saying its forces are acting in self-defence against the DRC's army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide that killed around 1-million people, mostly ethnic Tutsis.
US President Donald Trump's administration is trying to strike a peace accord between the DRC and Rwanda and facilitate billions in Western investments in the region, which is rich in minerals including tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium.
Trump's senior adviser for Africa Massad Boulos last month said he had spoken with the presidents of the two countries and was “awaiting final feedback from the parties”.
Washington is pushing for a peace agreement between the two sides to be signed this summer, accompanied by economic packages.
However a DRC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters last month no cooperation on minerals could happen without the withdrawal of Rwandan troops and “their proxies”, a reference to M23.
Reuters
Qatar presents draft peace proposal to DRC and M23 rebels, source says
Qatar has presented a draft peace proposal to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels after months of mediation in Doha, and the two sides will consult their leaders before resuming talks, a source briefed on the negotiations told Reuters on Thursday.
Fighting in eastern DRC escalated this year as M23 staged an advance that saw it seize the region's two largest cities, raising fears of a wider regional war.
African leaders along with Doha and Washington have been trying to broker a peace deal that would put an end to a conflict with roots in the Rwandan genocide more than three decades ago.
Sources from the DRC government and M23 camps told Reuters on Thursday some members of the delegations had left Doha but cast doubt on whether there had been significant progress in the talks.
“The draft is not recent and has not been updated for more than a month. The draft has nothing to do with what we proposed and takes more into account Kinshasa's expectations,” said an M23 source who insisted on anonymity.
The source briefed on the negotiations had a more positive take, saying the talks had “entered a deeper phase, with the two sides engaging on the core issues underlying the conflict”.
Qatar successfully brokered a surprise meeting in March between DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame. The two leaders called for a ceasefire after the meeting.
In April the DRC and M23 issued statements pledging to work towards peace, though sources in the two camps expressed patience over the pace of the talks in Doha.
The DRC said Rwanda is supporting M23 by sending troops and arms.
Rwanda has long denied helping M23, saying its forces are acting in self-defence against the DRC's army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide that killed around 1-million people, mostly ethnic Tutsis.
US President Donald Trump's administration is trying to strike a peace accord between the DRC and Rwanda and facilitate billions in Western investments in the region, which is rich in minerals including tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium.
Trump's senior adviser for Africa Massad Boulos last month said he had spoken with the presidents of the two countries and was “awaiting final feedback from the parties”.
Washington is pushing for a peace agreement between the two sides to be signed this summer, accompanied by economic packages.
However a DRC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters last month no cooperation on minerals could happen without the withdrawal of Rwandan troops and “their proxies”, a reference to M23.
Reuters
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