PREVIEW
There are also still no plans for withdrawal of Rwandan troops or M23’s disarmament at the heart of the fighting in the Kivu provinces
Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has hedged on the prospect of a peace deal with Congo-Kinshasa being signed in Washington DC next week, accusing the Kinshasa government of having ‘set different conditions other than what was actually done and agreed in Washington’.
Congo-K officials say that formal signing of the agreement is expected on 4 December, with Kenya’s President William Ruto set to attend as a guarantor.
The agreement, brokered by the United States and Qatar, was reached between Congo-K and the M23 militia, which Rwanda denies supporting, in mid-November. It has been described as the ‘second phase’ of a peace process that started with a truce agreement in June.
Congo-K say this has not been respected by M23, which has instead tightened its grip in the region (AC Vol 66 No 14, Trump’s peace deal hinges on minerals, militias – and megawatts). The accord includes eight implementation protocols, two of which on ceasefire monitoring and prisoner exchange have already been signed (AC Vol 66 No 20, Peace talks falter as M23 tightens its grip on the Kivus).
Other protocols include a timeline as well as details on how humanitarian aid will be allowed to reach communities in the Kivus, and the return of refugees.
Still unclear are any plans on the disarmament of M23 and the status of Rwanda’s troop deployment of over 12,000 in eastern Congo-K. Rwanda, meanwhile, has demanded action against the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda, the Hutu militia group that includes genocidaires from the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
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