FILE PHOTO: War-displaced citizens flee towards the city of Goma, eastern Republic of Congo. (Photo by ALEXIS HUGUET / AFP)
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday welcomed an agreement at the weekend’s summit of Eastern and Southern African leaders in Tanzania on direct talks between all parties to the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), including the M23 militia.
“One of the most significant outcomes was that the joint summit agreed that direct negotiations and dialogue resume between all state and non-state parties, including the M23,” he said.
“This is a major step forward. Unless all parties to the conflict are brought around the negotiating table, all diplomatic solutions will lack credibility and be unsustainable in the long term.”
The negotiations will take place in the framework of the Luanda and Nairobi peace processes.
The weekend’s extraordinary summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and East African Community (EAC) in Dar-es-Salaam was an urgent effort to revive both processes after the M23 seized Goma, the capital of South Kivu last month.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who is accused of helping drive the M23’s offensive, attended the summit, but DRC President Felix Tshisekedi took part virtually.
Tshisekedi has to date refused to speak directly to the leaders of the M23, the latest in a long line of ethnic Tutsi-led rebel rebel groups to emerge in the eastern DRC, insisting instead that he would negotiate with Kagame.
The summit called for an immediate ceasefire and a peaceful resolution of the conflict through the Luanda and Nairobi process but did not set out a roadmap for these talks.
But it did direct the chiefs of defence forces of both blocs to meet within five days to provide “technical direction on [an] immediate and unconditional ceasefire and cessation of hostilities”.
It further directed army commanders to facilitate the flow of humanitarian assistance, including the evacuation of the wounded and repatriation of soldiers who died in the fighting.
They must also develop a plan to secure Goma and surrounding areas and reopen central supply lines, including that between Goma, Sake and Bukavu.
The M23 have been advancing towards Bukavu since capturing Goma less than a fortnight ago. They declared a unilateral ceasefire last week but this was short-lived.
South Africa, which deployed 2,900 troops as part of the SADC Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIDRC), suffered 14 casualties in fighting around Sake and Goma.
Their repatriation was expected last week but was reportedly blocked by M23 fighters, who have encircled the bases at Goma and Sake where the South African National Defence Force is stationed.
The military said at the weekend that it was finally under way with the assistance of the United Nations and would happen via Entebbe in Uganda.
Ramaphosa has been under domestic pressure about the mission, but a decision to withdraw can only be made by SADC as a collective.
It is understood that he has been in direct talks with Thisekedi, and ruled out the possibility of the region committing more troops to shore up the DRC military and repeatedly pressed him to agree to hold direct talks with the M23.
“We are pleased that this inclusive approach was endorsed and adopted at the historic joint EAC/SADC summit under the leadership of President William Ruto of Kenya and President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe,” Ramaphosa said on Monday.
“This is a major step forward. Unless all parties to the conflict are brought around the negotiating table, all diplomatic solutions will lack credibility and be unsustainable in the long term.”
His position in the peace process has been complicated by a diplomatic row with Kigali.
It is understood that Ramaphosa and Kagame did not meet on the sidelines of the Dar-es-Salaam summit to smooth over tensions.