The presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) and Rwanda met in Qatar on Tuesday for their first direct talks since Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized two major cities in mineral-rich eastern DR Congo earlier this year.
The meeting between Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame to discuss the insurgency was mediated by Qatar, the three governments said in a statement.
The state-run Qatar News Agency published an image of the two African leaders meeting with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Qatar’s ruling emir.
Photo: AFP / Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs
DR Congo and Rwanda reaffirmed their commitment to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, but the joint statement offered no specifics on how it would be implemented or monitored.
The summit came as a previous attempt to bring DR Congo’s government and M23 leaders together for ceasefire negotiations failed.
The rebels pulled out on Monday after the EU announced sanctions on rebel leaders.
A diplomat briefed on the meeting said that Tshisekedi and Kagame had formally requested Qatar’s mediation for the talks, which the diplomat said were informal and aimed at building trust rather than resolving all outstanding issues.
The diplomat spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
Peace talks between DR Congo and Rwanda were unexpectedly canceled in December last year after Rwanda made the signing of a peace agreement conditional on a direct dialogue between DR Congo and the M23 rebels, which Kinshasa refused at the time.
The conflict in eastern DR Congo escalated in January when the Rwanda-backed rebels advanced and seized the strategic city of Goma, followed by Bukavu last month.
M23 is one of about 100 armed groups that have been vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern DR Congo near the border with Rwanda, in a conflict that has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises.
More than 7 million people have been displaced.
The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from Rwanda, according to UN experts, and at times have vowed to march as far as Kinshasa, about 1,600km to the east.
The UN Human Rights Council last month launched a commission to investigate atrocities, including allegations of killings akin to “summary executions,” and rape by both sides.
‘EYE FOR AN EYE’: Two of the men were shot by a male relative of the victims, whose families turned down the opportunity to offer them amnesty, the Supreme Court said Four men were yesterday publicly executed in Afghanistan, the Supreme Court said, the highest number of executions to be carried out in one day since the Taliban’s return to power. The executions in three separate provinces brought to 10 the number of men publicly put to death since 2021, according to an Agence France-Presse tally. Public executions were common during the Taliban’s first rule from 1996 to 2001, with most of them carried out publicly in sports stadiums. Two men were shot around six or seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the center
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is leaning into his banking background as his country fights a trade war with the US, but his financial ties have also made him a target for conspiracy theories. Incorporating tropes familiar to followers of the far-right QAnon movement, conspiratorial social media posts about the Liberal leader have surged ahead of the country’s April 28 election. Posts range from false claims he recited a “satanic chant” at a campaign event to artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images of him in a pool with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “He’s the ideal person to be targeted here, for sure, due to
Australia’s opposition party yesterday withdrew election promises to prevent public servants from working from home and to slash more than one in five federal public-sector jobs. Opposition leader Peter Dutton announced his conservative Liberal Party had dropped its pledge that public servants would be required to work in their offices five days a week except in exceptional circumstances. “I think we made a mistake in relation to this policy,” Dutton told Nine Network television. “I think it’s important that we say that and recognize it, and our intention was to make sure that where taxpayers are working hard and their money is
DISPUTE: Beijing seeks global support against Trump’s tariffs, but many governments remain hesitant to align, including India, ASEAN countries and Australia China is reaching out to other nations as the US layers on more tariffs, in what appears to be an attempt by Beijing to form a united front to compel Washington to retreat. Days into the effort, it is meeting only partial success from countries unwilling to ally with the main target of US President Donald Trump’s trade war. Facing the cratering of global markets, Trump on Wednesday backed off his tariffs on most nations for 90 days, saying countries were lining up to negotiate more favorable conditions. China has refused to seek talks, saying the US was insincere and that it
RSS