Luanda – The mini regional summit held Wednesday, in Luanda, decided to use force to make the 23 March Movement (M23) rebels surrender in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), if they do not cease fire or abandon their positions by Friday, 25 October.
According to the final statement of the meeting, the M23 rebels must leave the territories that they are currently occupying and return to their original positions.
According to the Angolan minister of Foreign Affairs, Téte António, while reading the document, if M23 rebels do not comply with the decision taken, then the Heads of State and Government of the Community of East African States (EAC) will order the use of force in order to compel them to surrender.
The meeting held in Luanda, capital city of Angola, had as main objective to establish a schedule towards the implementation of the priority actions to cease hostilities and the immediate withdrawal of M23 from the occupied Congolese zones.
The document expressed the concern of the Heads of State and Government of the Community of East African States at the worsening insecurity and persistent military actions of the M23 after it acquired increasingly sophisticated weapons and other means to carry out attacks against the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC).
The Heads of State present at the meeting considered that the persistent actions of negative forces and terrorists in the eastern region of DRC becomes a threat to peace, security and stability in the sub-region.
Due to that, the officials decided to order ceasefire in general and in particular the M23 attacks against FARDC and United Nations Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), as well as the full compliance with the previous decisions made in Luanda (Angola), Nairobi (Kenya) and Bujumbura (Burundi).
The Heads of State and Government also decided to end all political and military support to M23 and to other local and foreign armed groups placed in the DRC and at the Great Lakes region, including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR-FOCA), Resistance for the Rule of Law in Burundi (RED-TABARA), Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and other.
All armed groups that are placed in the Congolese territory should immediately lay down their arms and start its unconditional repatriation under the term of Nairobi Process with the assistance of MONUSCO, of the Ad-Hoc Verification Mechanism of the Luanda Process and the East African Community (EAC) Regional Force.
The disarming and cantonment of M23 in the Congolese territory under the control of FARDC, the Regional Force and the Ad-Hoc Verification Mechanism with MONUSCO collaboration, is also part of the decisions taken.
Resumption of DRC-Rwanda Dialogue
The Luanda mini-summit also decided to resume dialogue between the DRC and Rwanda with a view to normalising diplomatic relations and re-launching co-operation between both neighbouring states.
The official in the meeting appealed to the international community to provide humanitarian support to hundreds of thousands of people displaced in the zones affected by war in North Kivu in the eastern region of DRC.
In addition to President João Lourenço, the meeting had the participation of DRC President, Félix Tshisékédi, President of Burundi and EAC acting chairman, Évariste Ndayishimiye, the Rwandan Foreign Affairs minister, Vicent Biruta, the former Kenyan head of State and peace facilitator for the DRC appointed by the EAC, Uhuru Kenyatta, the special representative of the African Union (AU) Commission president, Michelle Ndiaye, the Executive Secretary of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), João Caholo, as well as the commander of the ad hod verification mechanism Lieutenant-General Nassone João.
Burundi to host next mini-summit
According to the final statement, Burundi will host the next regional summit on the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to assess the implementation of the decisions emerging from Wednesday's meeting in Luanda on the ceasefire on the border with Rwanda.
The meeting in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, to be held on a date to be announced, will be based on a report on the degree of compliance with the agreement on the ceasefire in the east of the DR Congo.
