Africa-Press – Rwanda. The Congolese government and AFC/M23 rebels on Saturday, November 15, signed a Peace Framework Agreement in Doha, Qatar, “yet Kinshasa’s regime is already violating its commitments through its actions on the ground,” rebel spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka said soon after the deal was announced.
In a two-minute video posted by Kanyuka on X, AFC/M23 negotiator Benjamin Mbonimpa said the deal contained eight key protocols that encompass the root causes of the conflict in eastern DR Congo and urged that “our population therefore needs to be patient” as the path to peace is still long.
According to Kanyuka, just moments before the signing of the Peace Framework Agreement, which sets out the fundamental principles and commitments of the parties, Kinshasa was “already trampling on its essence” as the government’s “allied forces continue their criminal assaults on densely populated areas, contemptuously flouting the integrity of the entire process and reneging on its word in favor of its bellicose agenda.”
In the past few years, a vast Congolese army coalition backed by Western countries including Belgium and comprising the Rwandan genocidal militia, FDLR, and Burundian forces as well as SADC forces worsened the security situation in eastern DR Congo. FDLR is a DR Congo-backed militia formed by remnants of the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. The government coalition is continuously conducting a series of attacks against the Banyamulenge community in South Kivu province.
The Declaration of Principles, signed on July 19 in Doha, Qatar, indicated that a permanent ceasefire must be respected by both parties, serving as a critical foundation for confidence-building measures that could ultimately enable a formal peace agreement. But observers have said that continued hostilities in eastern DR Congo could jeopardise the Qatar-mediated peace process.
Kinshasa and AFC/M23 signed a ceasefire monitoring agreement on October 14, following a sixth round of peace talks in the Gulf country. The agreement aimed to establish a joint team to monitor and verify the implementation of a permanent ceasefire. It also stipulated that the mechanism would become operational within seven days, by October 21, but not much has happened.
‘Tshisekedi’s drones have just bombed the village of Mikenke’
On Saturday, Congolese lawyer MoiseNyarugabo said “Tshisekedi’s drones have just bombed the village of Mikenke,” a village inhabited by the civilian population and where there is a camp of displaced Banyamulenge “whose villages have been burned.”
By the time he posted on X, the death toll had “not yet been established given the hour.”
But certainly, there must be civilian victims, he said.
“From reliable sources, these bombings precede the generalized attacks by the troops of the Burundian army, the FARDC, the Wazalendo, and the FDLR coming from Point Zéro, Mikalati, Kigazura, Marunde, Kipupu, Rugezi, and Mukoko, which are to converge on Minembwe and Mikenke as a final assault.
“Two generals are stationed in the area, one Congolese and the other Burundian, in order to coordinate these deadly attacks. Unless there is a last-minute change of plan, this morning or in any case one of these next few days, the survivors of the bombings by the Sukhoi and drones will be pounded by the bombs of these enemies of peace.”
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