Africa-Press – Angola. On Friday 11 November, Angolan President Joao Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço traveled to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, to meet his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame, for a meeting focused on de-escalation between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo:
The Angolan Head of State chairs the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), for which he plays the role of mediator in order to normalize relations between the two countries and for the peace of the entire area. This is a task decided last July in the meetings held in Luanda, the capital of Angola, between presidents Kagame and Tshisekedi to put an end to hostilities in the eastern Congolese provinces.
Meanwhile, the Congolese National Assembly has authorized the 36th extension of the state of siege in North Kivu and Ituri, where clashes with the Tutsi rebel group M23 intensified since 20 October, which Kinshasa believes is supported by Kigali, who continues to advance towards Goma, the main city of the region. For this reason, the Congolese authorities expelled the Rwandan ambassador, continuing to fuel tensions between the two countries.
In parallel, the Kenyan Parliament on Wednesday approved the deployment of 903 soldiers as part of an East African regional force, after some Kenyan lieutenants already deployed were pulled from the ground. According to the United Nations, since the end of October at least 188,000 people have fled from their villages in North Kivu to “quieter” locations (almost 240,000 since the start of this crisis), while at least another 16,500 have fled to Uganda.
The following day, Saturday morning 12 November, the Angolan President traveled to Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, where he was received at noon by Félix Antoine Tshisekedi, the Congolese Head of State, at the presidential palace of Mont Ngaliema:
The two presidents talked for two hours, but did not release any statements to the press, preferring to leave the floor to their respective foreign ministers. Angolan minister Tété Antonio said: “ We will not be able to go into the details of the discussions that took place in Kigali, just like the discussions that took place in Kinshasa. But we assure you that the Heads of State will continue to work ”. His Congolese counterpart, Christophe Lutundula, added a praise to the people who are defending their territory: “ Defending one’s country is a civic obligation all over the world. The Head of State has launched an appeal for mobilization to defend the cause of the nation: this cannot be discussed, it is done ”.
Finally, today, Sunday 13 November, an additional mediator is expected to arrive in Kinshasa, the former president of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, appointed facilitator in the same crisis by the East African Economic Community.
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