Tshisekedi insists there will never be talks between DRC and M23, Yesterday, Friday, December 20, President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo reiterated the position of the country he leads regarding the issue of engaging in open negotiations with the M23 rebels. 

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting in the country’s capital, Kinshasa, Antoine Tshisekedi announced that there will be no peace talks between the DRC government and the M23 rebels. The DRC’s highest-ranking official made the announcement after talks scheduled to bring him and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, collapsed in Luanda, Angola, last weekend. 

While giving a report on the government meeting held yesterday on the country’s national television, DRC spokesman, Mr. Patrick Muyaya, said that for Felix Tshisekedi, the fact that Rwanda has initiated measures aimed at direct talks between the DRC and M23 as a new proposal to sign a peace agreement is a serious and deliberate obstacle to the path to restoring peace in eastern DRC.

 The DRC head of state reminded me once again that the purpose of this meeting was to approve a draft agreement that was agreed upon and prepared in good faith by the foreign ministers of both countries, Rwanda and DRC, with the addition of Angola as a mediator, and all this was done solely with the aim of restoring peace in the region.

 He said: “By making such a request, Rwanda has not only blocked the process of finding a solution but has also shown that it wants to undermine peacekeeping forces by ignoring its international commitments and the resolutions of the Security Council.”

 The government spokesman indicated that Felix Tshisekedi is facing this issue, and that he has reaffirmed the DRC’s position and confirmed that it rejects, rejects, and will firmly reject any negotiations between it and the M23 rebel group.