According to a statement given by the office of Congolese President Felix Tshisekede, he and Rwandan President Paul Kagame will follow “a so-called Luanda Roadmap” to revive a joint Congo-Rwanda commission in Luanda on July 12.
“It also provides for the immediate cessation of hostilities and the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the M23 from its positions in the DRC,” the statement said of a Tutsi militia Kinshasa says is controlled by Kigali. “The roadmap stipulates that any exploitation of natural resources must be carried out with strict respect for the sovereignty of States.”
Kagame’s office has not yet released its own statement on the meeting.
The Congo-Rwanda commission was established in the early 21st century to mediate the ongoing war between the two nations, in which Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda supported proxy forces inside DR Congo against a host of other nations. Called the Congo Wars or Africa’s World War, the conflict began when Hutu Power forces responsible for the genocide of Rwandan Tutsis and Twa were driven from power in 1994 and fled across the border into DR Congo, then called Zaire, and Kigali mounted an operation to destroy them.
Lourenco invited the two leaders to Luanda in an attempt to stop the present situation from sliding downward and toward a new Congo War. Rwanda and DR Congo have threatened each other with war over the last two months, accusing each other of supporting proxy forces in North Kivu. Earlier, the Angolan leader secured the release of two Rwandan soldiers who had been captured - Kigali said kidnapped - by a Hutu Power militia aligned with Kinshasa, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).