Congo, M23 rebels to begin direct peace talks on March 18, Angola says

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LUANDA (Reuters) – Direct peace talks between the Democratic Republic of Congo and M23 rebels will begin in the Angolan capital on March 18, Angola’s presidency said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Southern African country has been trying to mediate a lasting ceasefire and de-escalate tensions between Congo and neighbouring Rwanda, which has been accused of backing the Tutsi-led rebel group. Rwanda denies those allegations.

Angola announced on Tuesday that it would attempt to broker the direct talks.

Congo’s government has repeatedly refused to hold talks with M23 and on Tuesday said only that it had taken note of the Angolan initiative.

On Wednesday Tina Salama, spokesperson for Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi, told Reuters the government had received an invitation from Angola but did not confirm its participation.

M23 leader Bertrand Bisimwa in a post on X boasted of forcing Tshisekedi to the negotiating table, calling it “the only civilised option to resolve the current crisis” that has intensified dramatically since January.

The rebels have seized east Congo’s two biggest cities since January in an escalation of a long-running conflict rooted in the spillover into Congo of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the struggle for control of Congo’s vast mineral resources.

Congo’s government has said at least 7,000 people have died in the fighting since January. At least 600,000 people have been displaced by the fighting since November, according to the U.N. humanitarian affairs office.

Congo’s neighbours, including South Africa, Burundi, and Uganda have troops in East Congo, raising fears of an all-out regional war reminiscent of the Congo wars of the 1990s and early 2000s which killed millions.

Eastern Congo is home to vast reserves of strategic minerals such as coltan, cobalt, copper and lithium, resources that are central to the world’s race to develop new technology and green energy.

(Reporting by Congo newsroom and Sonia Rolley. Writing by Robbie Corey-Boulet. Editing by Gareth Jones, Mark Potter and Diane Craft)