Africa

President Kiir to meet Kagame,Tshisekedi over DRC conflict

President of the Republic of South Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit. (AFP)

By Bashir Mohammed | Friday, April 5, 2024

Intense fighting between the Congolese army and resurgent M23 rebels has displaced thousands in the North Kivu Province.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir has embarked on a diplomatic mission in a move to tackle the escalating tensions between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Kiir, who is the head of the East African Community, will hold a summit with the leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in April 2024, the government spokesperson said.

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The President jetted to the DRC on March 24, 2024, and held talks with his counterpart Felix Tshisekedi on ending the conflicts between the Congolese military and M23 rebels in the country’s east.

From there, the president also headed to Angola, a key player in resolving the regional conflict, and met his counterpart João Lourenço in Luanda.

That peace mission followed similar trips to Rwanda and Burundi in February, where Kiir discussed regional peace and security with presidents Paul Kagame and Evariste Ndayishimye.

Information Minister Michael Makuei said on Friday that the president will conclude the regional peace missions with a summit this month without indicating a specific date or venue.

Makuei told reporters after a Council of Ministers meeting in Juba that the decision was agreed upon during the president’s visits.

“The main objective of the mission was to address the dispute between the DRC and Rwanda, and they agreed that the president within this month calls for a joint meeting of the two heads of state in order to resolve that,” he said.

“They agreed that there should be a meeting between the presidents of the DRC and Rwanda because of the conflict that exists between the two countries,” the minister added.

Intense fighting between the Congolese army and resurgent M23 rebels has displaced thousands in the North Kivu Province and sparked tension with Rwanda.

Kinshasa accuses Kigali of backing the M23 rebels, an allegation Rwanda has repeatedly rejected.

Meanwhile, Burundi also closed its borders with Rwanda on January 11, 2024, accusing its neighbour of funding rebel attacks.

This came after Red Tabara, a Burundian rebel group, killed 20 people near the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo in December 2023.

DRC signed an agreement in December 2023 on the status of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) force that will replace the EAC Regional Force that has departed the country.

The 16-nation bloc, which includes South Africa, Angola, and Tanzania, backed the deployment “to restore peace and security in the eastern DRC,” according to the SADC statement.