As recent months witness a deterioration in regional relations in central Africa, DRC Foreign Minister Christophe Lutundula met with his Rwandan counterpart Vincent Biruta met in Angola on Saturday in the latest attempt to defuse tensions between the neighbouring nations.
The meeting takes place in the midst of conflict in the eastern DRC between a rebel militia organisation called M23 and the Congolese army, with rebels recently taking large portions of fresh territory.
Watch | Fresh clashes erupt between army and M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
According to an AFP report, Joao Lourenco, the president of Angola hosted the two ministers in Luanda. Before this too Angola had made attempts to normalise ties between its two neighbours, however to no avail.
In July, following a meeting between Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the DRC declared that a “de-escalation process” had been agreed upon.
Also read | African Union ‘extremely concerned’ over deteriorating security situation in DR Congo
Lourenco went one step further and declared a “ceasefire,” but fighting persisted the following day on the ground.
Tens of thousands of civilians have been forced to flee their homes as a result of the fighting between the rebels and the Congolese army in North Kivu.
DRC recently accused its smaller neighbour Rwanda of supporting the M23 militia that has uprooted tens of thousands of people.
The accusations have been consistently refuted by Kigali, which has led to a deterioration in its relations with its neighbour Kinshasa. At the end of the previous month, the DRC had even dismissed the ambassador of Rwanda and called back its own representative from Kigali.
(With inputs from agencies)
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