by Xinhua writers Shi Yu, Lyu Chengcheng

KINSHASA/LUANDA, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Angola said it is trying to broker direct talks between the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the M23 rebel group in the coming days.

The announcement, made by Angola's Presidency on Tuesday, came after a visit by DRC President Felix Tshisekedi to Luanda earlier in the day, raising hopes that the fighting in the eastern parts of the DRC might ease and not descend into a wider regional war.

Kinshasa has so far refused to talk directly with the M23, which the United Nations say is supported by neighboring Rwanda, an assertion Kigali denies adamantly.

Pending decisions remain decisive for revived peace mechanisms that are currently stuck in an impasse and differences among regional blocs.

A RED LINE

In Luanda, Tshisekedi met with his Angolan counterpart, Joao Lourenco, a key player in the Luanda Process, a peace mechanism backed by the African Union (AU) that aims to calm tensions between Rwanda and the DRC.

The DRC government has consistently considered it a red line to sit at the same negotiation table with the M23, which has seized large chunks of land in the eastern North Kivu and South Kivu provinces.

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 back in August 2024.

Responding to Angola's latest announcement, Tshisekedi's spokesperson Tina Salama described it as "an approach by Angolan mediation," saying Kinshasa is "waiting to see the implementation."

The Luanda Process has been in limbo since last December, when an Angola-brokered summit in Luanda between Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame was called off at the last minute. Kagame did not show up, and Kigali put the blame on the DRC's refusal to have "direct dialogue with the M23."

Meanwhile, the DRC has signaled its intent to revive the Nairobi Process, a peace initiative led by the East African Community (EAC) and facilitated by former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, providing Kinshasa with a platform to engage with various armed groups active in the country, including the M23.

However, Kenyatta's spokesperson Kanze Dena said in early February that the Nairobi Process has reached an "impasse." The DRC government kicked the M23 out of the process because it views the rebellion as a proxy for foreign interests, particularly Rwanda.

The conflict between the M23 and the DRC government traces back to the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide against Tutsi and ongoing ethnic tensions, particularly between the Tutsi and Hutu populations.

The DRC has accused Rwanda of supporting the M23, while Rwanda says the DRC's 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 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.

MORE EFFORTS FOR AFRICAN SOLUTIONS TO AFRICAN PROBLEMS

African regional blocs are still prioritizing African solutions to African problems, though Kinshasa and its regional partners are not 100 percent on the same page regarding the future trajectory of the Nairobi and Luanda processes.

Several African leaders agreed to merge the two processes into one, at a joint summit in February hosted by the EAC and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in the Tanzanian port city of Dar es Salaam.

Weeks later, the EAC and SADC announced that they had designated Kenyatta, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, and former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn as the facilitators of their joint "Luanda/Nairobi Process."

Kinshasa, however, called for an "alignment" so that the two mutually reinforcing processes, which are quite complementary to each other, are raised to the same organizational level.

"Obviously, the two processes have completely different targets, different stakeholders," said Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, the DRC state minister for foreign affairs, in early March, noting that the Nairobi Process should also be under the aegis of the AU.

"We are talking more about aligning the two processes so that the Nairobi process is also under the umbrella of the AU and no longer under the umbrella of the EAC alone. And so, we have both the processes at the same level," said Wagner.

In another related development, the SADC announced that it will hold an extraordinary summit of heads of state and government on Thursday to discuss the security situation in the DRC, where the regional bloc may address the withdrawal of its military presence in eastern DRC.

As part of the SADC Mission in the DRC deployed in December 2023, a SADC regional force from Malawi, South Africa, and Tanzania has been working with the DRC military in fighting armed groups operating in the eastern DRC. Enditem

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