Eastern DRC: Washington announces a 2-week truce

The United States announced on Thursday a two-week truce in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which is torn apart by incessant attacks by armed groups, notably the M23 and CODECO militias.

According to an announcement by the White House on Thursday, a two-week humanitarian truce began at midnight on July 5 and will cover ‘‘the zones of hostilities’This measure announced by the United States has not been confirmed by the authorities of the DRC, much less by the Rwandan authorities and rebel groups active in the eastern part of the DRC.

According to the American press release, this measure commits ‘the parties to the conflict’ (The DRC Armed Forces on one side and the M23 rebels supported by Rwanda on the other) “to silence their guns, to allow the voluntary return of displaced persons, and to provide humanitarian personnel with unhindered access to vulnerable populations”‘. ‘‘The truce covers the areas of hostilities that most affect civilian populations’‘, underlines the spokesperson for the National Security Council of the United States, Adrienne Watson, quoted by ‘actualite.cd”.

“The governments of the DRC and Rwanda expressed their support for this two-week humanitarian truce aimed at alleviating the suffering of vulnerable populations and creating the conditions for a broader de-escalation of tensions in eastern DRC. The U.S. government calls on all parties to uphold the spirit of the truce before it goes into effect,” the White House statement said.

As a reminder, this measure comes in a context where the M23 rebels have made dazzling progress in recent days in the province of North Kivu. Many important localities are now under the control of this armed group which has even managed to surround Goma, the capital of the province.