Brussels (TDI): Congo’s President, Félix Tshisekedi, publicly called on his Rwandan counterpart to seize the moment for peace as conflict rages in eastern Congo.
Speaking at Brussels’ Global Gateway Forum on Thursday, he directly addressed President Paul Kagame, urging Rwanda to instruct the M23 rebel group to halt military escalation.
Tshisekedi painted the forum as a symbolic “witness” to his olive branch. “It is not too late to do things right,” he said, pressing Kigali to commit to an end to hostilities by reining in the insurgents.
That appeal comes amid stagnating mediation efforts by the US and Qatar, as fighting continues unabated in the volatile eastern provinces.
The M23 movement, which launched a lightning offensive earlier this year, now controls swathes of territory and has deepened the humanitarian crisis; thousands killed, hundreds of thousands displaced.
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Kinshasa and Kigali had inked a peace agreement in Washington in June, and Congo and M23 participated in several Doha-hosted talks. But progress has lagged.
The US State Department noted delays in enforcing the pact’s provisions, and last week, a planned framework signing with Rwanda was shelved after the Congolese side balked.
Kigali was swift to rebuff Tshisekedi’s plea. Rwandan Foreign Minister, Olivier Nduhungirehe, charged that “the only one who can stop this escalation is President Tshisekedi and he alone,” accusing him of fueling tension.
Meanwhile, Kigali’s presidential press secretary accused Tshisekedi of staging a Brussels performance to paint himself as peacemaker while “claiming victimhood of the very conflict he caused.”
The standoff underscores the fragile and polarized state of diplomacy in the Great Lakes region. While Tshisekedi positions himself as a peace broker, Kigali insists that it is Kinshasa’s actions, and not rhetoric, that will determine whether lasting calm can take root.
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