Addis Ababa – The Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço, on Friday in Ethiopia defended the cantonment of the M23 forces, their disarmament and subsequent reintegration in the Congolese society.
President Lourenço – who happens to be the Chairman of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) and also the mediator of the Rwanda/DRC crisis – was intervening in the meeting of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU), which is happening on the fringes of the 36th AU Summit of Heads of State and Government.
According to the Angolan statesman, a cease-fire had already been attained, which should have been followed by the cantonment, disarmament and social reintegration of the M23 forces.
Unfortunately, he said, the only positive thing in this process is the achievement of cease-fire. “So, we never managed to take the next necessary step, which was to define and prepare cantonment areas”, Lourenço admitted.
He went on to reiterate that the meeting ought to focus on the demobilisation and reintegration of the negative forces.
“I think that our duty, today, should revolve around this point, cantonment areas, their preparation and the financing to keep the M23 effectives quartered”.
João Lourenço – who’s also AU Champion for Peace and Reconciliation- stressed that it’s necessary to find the best paths to peace in the east of the DRC.
“This is a process that comes a long way, for it has passed through Luanda, Kenya, Washington DC, where we met last December, once again in Bujumbura. We seize this opportunity that we are together again, in Addis Ababa, to try to unblock the problems that unfortunately persist on the ground”, emphasised the Angolan Head of State.
On his turn, the President of Burundi, Evarist Ndayishimiye, whose country hosted the last meeting on the situation in the east of DR Congo, said that peace in the region is absolutely urgent.
The deterioration of the situation in the east of the DR Congo demands urgent attention from the AU and its Peace and Security Council.
The AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) will analyse the possibility for a greater involvement of the AU, the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the United Nations (UN) in the efforts to silence the guns in the DR Congo.
A summit held in Angola on 23 November, 2022, demanded a cease-fire and subsequent withdrawal of the forces in confrontation.
The fightings in the eastern region of DRC between the governmental forces and the M23 rebels have intensified tensions between Kinshasa and Kigali.
