The M23 rebels said the ceasefire would start Tuesday. The announcement on Monday came shortly after the UN health agency said at least 900 people were killed in last week’s fighting in the DRC‘s eastern city of Goma between the rebels and Congolese forces.
Fighting has stopped in the city of more than a million, which M23 forces claimed to have captured last week, but clashes have spread to the neighbouring province of South Kivu, raising fears of an M23 advance to its capital Bukavu.
A political-military coalition of groups called the Alliance Fleuve Congo (River Congo Alliance), of which M23 is a member, said in a statement late Monday that it would implement “a ceasefire” from the next day “for humanitarian reasons”.
It added that it had “no intention of taking control of Bukavu or other localities”, despite the M23 having said last week that it wanted to “continue the march” to the Congolese capital, Kinshasa.
In more than three years of fighting, half a dozen ceasefires and truces have been declared, before being systematically broken.
Tshisekedi and Kagame to attend joint summit
The unilateral ceasefire declaration came days before a planned crisis meeting between Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
The Kenyan presidency announced on Monday that Tshisekedi and Kagame would attend a joint extraordinary summit of the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam on Saturday.
Amid fears of a regional conflagration, the 16 member countries of the southern African regional organisation had called on Friday for “a joint summit” with the eight countries of the East African Community, of which Rwanda is a member.
A UN expert report said last year that Rwanda had up to 4,000 troops in the DRC, seeking to profit from the mining of minerals – and that Kigali has “de facto” control over the M23. With tensions spiralling, Tshisekedi had promised a “vigorous” military response and urged the international community to impose sanctions on Rwanda.
War of words
In South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa vowed on Monday to continue providing support to the DRC in the face of nationwide calls to withdraw Pretoria’s troops following the deaths of 14 South African soldiers.
Most of those killed were part of an armed force sent to the eastern DRC in 2023 by the SADC bloc.
“A ceasefire is a necessary precondition for peace talks that must include all parties to the conflict whether they are state or non-state actors, Congolese or non-Congolese,” Ramaphosa said.
“Diplomacy is the most sustainable pathway to achieving a lasting peace for the DRC and its people.”
Amid an ongoing war of words between Ramaphosa and Kagame, Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo reacted strongly to the South African leader’s statement.
“You are sending your troops to fight Tshisekedi’s war to kill his own people,” she said to Ramaphosa on X.
Kagame has said that South African troops have no place in eastern DRC and are a “belligerent force engaging in offensive combat operations to help the DRC government fight against its own people”.
A UN expert report said last year that Rwanda had up to 4,000 troops in the DRC, seeking to profit from the mining of minerals – and that Kigali has “de facto” control over the M23.
Eastern DRC has deposits of coltan, the metallic ore that is vital in making phones and laptops, as well as gold and other minerals.
Rwanda has never admitted to military involvement in support of the M23 group and alleges that the DRC supports and shelters the FDLR, an armed group created by ethnic Hutus who massacred Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
South Africa dominates the SADC force, which is estimated to number around 1,300 troops, but Malawi and Tanzania also contribute soldiers.
The US on Monday announced that it was further reducing its staff at its embassy in Kinshasa.
(FRANCE 24 with AP and AFP)
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