DRC-Rwanda: the UN Security Council relaunches mediation efforts

The mediation of the conflict between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda was at the heart of the discussions of the United Nations Security Council this Wednesday, April 16.

Téte Antonio, president of the Executive Council of the African Union and representative of Angola, intervened in videoconference, while the special envoy of the Secretary General of the United Nations for the Great Lakes region, Huang Xia, returned from a regional mission. He presented his latest report, highlighting the recent political and diplomatic advances.

Although his mission did not aim directly to that, Huang Xia expressed his concern in the face of blocking the ceasefire efforts and the rapid deterioration of the humanitarian situation. He also regretted that calls from the Security Council, as well as those of regional African organizations and the European Union, remained unanswered.

Its main objective, he recalled, is to consolidate recent political and diplomatic progress in order to transform them into an irreversible dynamic towards peace. He praised the efforts of Angolan President João Lourenço as part of the Luanda process, insisting on the importance of preserving the achievements obtained.

“I am thinking in particular of the agreement on the concept of operation (Conops) aimed at neutralizing the democratic forces of Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), as well as the lifting of the defensive measures taken by Rwanda. If these commitments are fully applied, they could considerably contribute to appease tensions between the DRC and Rwanda ”said Huang Xia.

He also welcomed the appointment of the Togolese president, Faure Gnassingbé, as a mediator of the African Union for this crisis, while calling for better coordination between the various peace initiatives. For her part, the Congolese Foreign Affairs Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner denounced a “Deeply rooted impunity” and once again called for the establishment of sanctions.

The Rwanda ambassador to the UN, on the other hand, renewed Kigali’s protests in the face of the persistent presence of armed groups in the east of the DRC.