Congo and M23 Agree to a Cease-Fire in Qatar

The Democratic Republic of the Congo and the M23 militia backed by Rwanda issued a joint statement on Wednesday announcing a commitment to end the conflict that has triggered along the border of the two countries since January, killing Miles.

The announcement was a surprise for some observers. Felix Tshisekedi, president of the Congo, had said for a long time that his country would not negotiate directly with M23, who has recently occupied large strips of Congolese territory, cities and mines rich in critical minerals.

In the joint statement, the two parties said they shared a “commitment to an immediate cessation of hostilities” and that they would work for a lasting peace agreement.

Fred Bauma, the executive director of the Ebuteli Congolese Research Institute, described the joint declaration of “unprecedented”, given that Mr. Tshisekedi has repeatedly said that his country would only negotiate directly with Rwanda.

The United States and the United Nations have accused Rwanda of financing and directing M23, an accusation that Ruanda denies.

Wednesday’s announcement was a strange bright point in a conflict that has roots that date back to three decades. In the mid -1990s, when a genocide seized Rwanda, millions of people crossed neighbor Congo, which led two wars that together killed around six million people, according to UN experts. Since January, these hostilities have intensified again.

Ruanda states that M23 is a Congolese rebel movement and the Congo states that it is a Rwanda front. The group says that it is defending the interests of the Kinyarwanda del Congo speech communities, which says the government has not been able to do.

Thousands of Congolese have fled their homes, while the recent help cuts have drowned the much needed humanitarian aid. Sexual violence has accelerated in the region: this month, the UN Children’s Agency said a child was raped in the east of the Congo every half hour. Some of the survivors were young children.

The joint statement said that the negotiations, which are held in Qatar, would continue. But it was not clear if the conversations would lead to more progress. He thought that the statement was carried out on state television in Congo, Mr. TSHISEKEDI sent an immigration deputy director to lead the discussions, a much more junior official than those who attended previous conversations.

Mr. Tshisekedi’s government looks more and more helpless in the conflict. His weak military has not been able to recover the territory he has lost to M23 since January, including the key rubber and bukavu cities.

The previous attempts to mediate between Congo and M23, even by Angola and Kenia, have stagnated, with both parties removed from the negotiations scheduled at the last minute. This week’s conversations in Qatar managed to unite both sides.

“In this increasingly multipolar world there are spaces for non -traditional western mediators, and Qatar looks at itself as filling that space,” said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a member of the Baker Institute based in Houston.

Qatar also hosted Mr. TSHISEKEDI and his counterpart from Ruanda, Paul Kagame, last month, for conversations that ended with the announcement of a “high immediate and unconditional fire.” But that truce was not implemented.

Althegh M23 retired from the key city of Walicale this month, the militia has captured other villages and faced repeatedly with allied combatants with the Army of the Congo, known as Wazendo.

Neinder’s side seems to believe that a lasting peace agreement is near, Bauma said. “The Congolese government is still prioritizing the idea of ​​defeating M23 militarily in any way,” he said. “I think both actors deposit in a future escalation.”

Elian Peltier and Saikou Jammeh Contributed reports.