Angola to behave as mediator in peace talks between Congo and M23 rebels

Rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, in line with U.N. consultants, and at instances have vowed to march so far as Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, over 1,000 miles away. File
| Picture Credit score: Reuters

Angola on Tuesday (March 11, 2025) introduced plans to behave as a mediator within the battle between Congo and the Rwandan-backed insurgent group M23, in line with a press launch posted on the official web page of the Angolan president’s workplace.

Felix Tshisekedi, the president of Congo, was in Angola to debate a possible peace course of. In accordance with the press launch, Angola will start to determine contacts with each the Congolese authorities and M23 rebels with direct negotiations to be carried out within the coming days.

The announcement comes after a number of canceled peace talks hosted by Angola that had beforehand excluded M23 and as an alternative centered on their Rwandan backers.

M23 is one in every of about 100 armed teams which were vying for a foothold in mineral-rich japanese Congo close to the border with Rwanda, in a battle that has created one of many world’s most important humanitarian crises. Greater than 7 million folks have been displaced.

The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, in line with U.N. consultants, and at instances have vowed to march so far as Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, over 1,000 miles away.

In a lightning three-week offensive, the M23 took management of japanese Congo’s primary metropolis Goma and seized the second largest metropolis, Bukavu, final month.

The U.N. Human Rights Council final month launched a fee that can examine atrocities, together with allegations of rape and killing akin to “abstract executions” by either side.