Kigali, 15 December 2024

At the Ministerial meeting in Luanda on 14 December 2024, no consensus was reached between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo on a commitment to direct talks with the Congolese rebel group M23, for a political solution to the conflict in eastern DRC.

This summit would therefore not have resulted in an agreement, particularly In the context of continued threats by DRC officials, including the President, to pursue regime change in Rwanda, as well as the wider coalition of forces deployed in Eastern DRC alongside FARDC including European mercenaries, the Burundian military, Wazalendo, and FDLR. There must be serious actions to deal with the FDLR beyond the games being played around this problem.

A postponement of the summit allows time for the dialogue proposed by the President of Angola, João Lourenço (the facilitator), with former President Uhuru Kenyatta, between M23 and DRC.

There are actions that the DRC can and must take for themselves without continually using Rwanda as a pretext for doing nothing. Rwanda remains ready to participate in a summit that would adopt a serious and concrete path to resolve these remaining questions once and for all.

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