Angolan president holds safety talks together with his DRC counterpart

Angolan President Joao Lourenco held a three-hour non-public assembly in Luanda on Saturday together with his Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) counterpart, Felix Tshisekedi.

The talks got here a day after the Angolan parliament authorized a year-long deployment of as much as 500 troopers to the troubled japanese DRC.

However Luanda mentioned the contingent would solely be moved when it was sure that the precise situations existed within the cantonment areas.

“In the present day, a delegation of the advert hoc mechanism, which incorporates army officers, is visiting these areas to verify that every one is so as,” mentioned Francisco Furtado, Minister of State and head of army within the Angolan presidency.

The troops will assist to keep up peace in areas held by the M23 insurgent group. The militia resumed preventing on the finish of 2021 and have conquered giant swathes of territory within the DRC’s North Kivu province.

Angola’s president performed a key mediation function in making an attempt to finish the battle, however the newest ceasefire he negotiated collapsed earlier this month on the identical day it was as a result of take impact.

“It’s nonetheless a priority of the DRC authorities that we have to see an engagement of all events, on the a part of the federal government of the DRC, on the a part of Rwanda, and likewise on the a part of M23 by way of compliance with the cessation of hostilities,” mentioned Furtado.

The DRC has accused Rwanda of backing the principally Congolese Tutsi group, a cost that Kigali denies.