Qatar hosts M23 rebel leaders in continued mediation efforts on Congo crisis

Kinshasa, March 28 (IANS) Rebel leaders of the March 23 Movement (M23) have arrived for further dialogue in Doha, Qatar, which has been mediating the ongoing crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), local sources confirmed on Friday.

Local media referred to an M23 delegation led by Bertrand Bisimwa, its political leader, and John Imani Nzenze, the group's intelligence chief, noting a possible meeting between the M23, the DRC, and Rwandan delegations. The M23 has yet to make a public announcement.

On March 18, under the mediation of Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame met in Doha for the first time since the M23, a rebel group accused of being supported by Kigali, seized the major DRC city of Goma in early 2025.

The Qatari Emir has mediated or overseen Qatar's involvement in several high-profile diplomatic efforts, including the 2020 Doha Agreement, which led to the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Despite extensive regional and international efforts, the immediate and unconditional ceasefire has yet to materialise on the ground.

Bintou Keita, special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in the DRC, said on Thursday at the UN Security Council that the M23 rebels might "expand into" Tshopo and Maniema provinces after setting up parallel administrations in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces.

According to Keita, the M23 continued its expansion into North Kivu's Walikale, the farthest west it reached during its lightning advance in January. Last Wednesday, the rebels seized the town, putting them within 400 km of Kisangani, the DRC's fourth-largest city and the provincial capital of Tshopo.

The DRC and Rwanda, whose relations have been on thin ice, gave their own interpretation of the meeting's outcomes. Kinshasa called the agreement the "first step" toward long-lasting regional peace, Xinhua news agency reported. Kigali, however, pointed out that the solutions to the root cause lie in the "direct political negotiation with the M23," a red line for Kinshasa while calling to address the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) "genocidal forces."

The DRC has accused Rwanda of backing the M23 rebels, a charge Kigali denies. Rwanda has accused the DRC army of supporting remnants of the FDLR, a group allegedly responsible for the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.

The mineral-rich eastern DRC remains a focal point of conflict, with various armed groups vying to control resources such as coltan, tin, tantalum, and gold.

According to the UN, about one million people, including approximately 400,000 children, have been newly displaced since late January, with numbers expected to rise as hostilities persist in North Kivu and South Kivu.

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