M23 cancels participation in direct talks with DR Congo govt

KINSHASA -- Talks with the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), scheduled for Tuesday in Luanda, the capital of Angola, "have become impracticable", the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group said in a statement on Monday.

Factors remain in play for a planned and much-anticipated direct negotiation between the DRC government and the M23 rebels on Tuesday in Luanda. Angolan President Joao Lourenco, a key player in the Luanda Process, a peace mechanism backed by the African Union (AU), brokered the negotiation.

"Successive sanctions imposed on our members, including those enacted on the eve of the Luanda discussions, severely undermine direct dialogue and make any progress impossible," said the M23, referring to the sanctions announced on Monday by the European Union against certain M23 leaders and Rwandan military commanders, including M23 political leader Bertrand Bisimwa.

Tina Salama, the DRC presidential spokesperson, told the media that the DRC delegation, which was supposed to leave for Luanda late Monday, would still make a trip despite the M23's no-show.

"The DRC delegation will indeed respond to the invitation of the mediator, President Lourenco, in Luanda this Tuesday," said Salama.

The DRC has accused Rwanda of supporting the M23, while Rwanda says the DRC military has allied with the Rwandan rebel group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, which is accused of involvement in the 1994 genocide.

The M23 called earlier on DRC President Felix Tshisekedi to make an unequivocal public declaration committing to direct negotiations. The DRC government has consistently considered it a red line to sit at the same negotiation table with the rebels, who have seized large chunks of land in the eastern provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu.

In these provinces, the Congo River Alliance (AFC), a politico-military group allied to the M23, has established a parallel provincial administration.

"Never, ever, as long as I am president of the DRC, will I have in front of me the delegation of the M23 or the AFC there ... to negotiate," Tshisekedi said in an interview in August 2024.

Rwanda on Monday severed its diplomatic relations with Belgium and ordered all Belgian diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours.

"Belgium has consistently undermined Rwanda, both well before and during the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in which Belgium has a deep and violent historical role, especially in acting against Rwanda," the Rwandan foreign ministry said in a statement.

The fighting raging on multiple fronts of the DRC, fueled by the M23's continued offensive, threatens to spiral into a wider regional conflict. "If it continues like this, war risks becoming widespread in the region," Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye warned in early February.