{"id":97825,"date":"2025-03-13T17:02:32","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T17:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/m23s-makenga-welcomes-angola-mediated-negotiations-with-kinshasa"},"modified":"2025-03-13T17:02:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T17:02:32","slug":"m23s-makenga-welcomes-angola-mediated-negotiations-with-kinshasa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/m23s-makenga-welcomes-angola-mediated-negotiations-with-kinshasa","title":{"rendered":"M23\u2019s Makenga welcomes Angola-mediated negotiations with Kinshasa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Gen Sultani Makenga, the overall military commander of the AFC\/M23 rebel group, has welcomed the development of direct peace talks between rebels and the Congolese government slated for March 18, in Luanda, Angola.<\/p>\n

Makenga said this, on March 12, during an interview with Alain Destexhe, a former Belgian senator who has been following closely the situation in eastern DR Congo.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, we want to negotiate, but at this stage we have only learned of Angola’s position, but we have not yet heard anything from Kinshasa,\u201d Makenga told Destexhe.<\/p>\n

The possibility of the talks was announced a day earlier, on Tuesday, after Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, who had long rejected the proposal for holding direct talks with the rebels, visited his Angolan counterpart Joa\u0303o Lourenc\u0327o, who is also the President of the African Union.<\/p>\n

General Makenga, leader of the M23,: \u2018Tshisekedi is a bandit\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018Our fight is for our survival and for the Congo\u2019.<\/p>\n

Previous rounds of peace talks on the DR Congo crisis always excluded the rebel movement. But on Tuesday, the Angolan presidency announced that delegations from the Congolese government and the rebels \u201cwill begin direct peace negotiations\u201d on March 18.<\/p>\n

Asked what he thinks of President Fe\u0301lix Tshisekedi, Makenga said that \u201che [Tshisekedi] has no love for his country, he is a bandit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rebel movement has been fighting against injustice, violence, and discrimination targeting Congolese Rwandophones in eastern DR Congo, and has vowed to uproot tribalism, nepotism, corruption, and genocide ideology, among other vices, widespread in DR Congo.<\/p>\n

The ongoing war between a vast Congolese government army coalition that includes FDLR, a DR Congo-based terrorist militia founded by remnants of the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, over 10,000 Burundian troops, 1,600 European mercenaries, South Africa-led SADC forces, as well as UN peacekeepers, all against M23 rebels, started in 2021.<\/p>\n

The rebels are now part of a larger rebel coalition, Alliance fleuve Congo (AFC) \u2013 created in December 2023 \u2013 led by Corneille Nangaa, the former president of DR Congo\u2019s national electoral commission (CENI).<\/p>\n

\u2018We are fighting for our survival\u2019<\/p>\n

Makenga said that they have no intention to continue the military offensive and advance to Kinshasa unless threatened.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are fighting for our survival. It must be understood that we took up arms because we were threatened with extermination. We were not going to let ourselves be exterminated without reacting! It’s a shame the outside world refuses to see this.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also gave an example of a village in Nturo, in North Kivu Province\u2019s Masisi territory, that was burned down solely because it was populated mainly by members of the Tutsi community, and emphasized that the main goal is to overcome the ethnic ideology of hatred and promote reconciliation.<\/p>\n

The rebels took control of Goma and Bukavu, two major cities in eastern DR Congo, between late January and February, restoring order and peace in the region as testified by residents.<\/p>\n

On March 4, after his tour in Goma, Destexhe reported that the city was peaceful as inhabitants went about their businesses in normalcy, trade increased and order was instated to propel people in restoring basic infrastructure such as water and electricity, among other things.<\/p>\n

However, Makenga noted that taking over Goma and Bukavu wasn\u2019t part of the rebel\u2019s objectives but they were forced to engage given the security threats that the Congolese army and its coalition were imposing.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom Goma, the FARDC and other forces were pounding our positions and the civilian populations under our control. We could no longer tolerate this. Then, the FARDC and Burundian forces were regrouping from Bukavu and receiving supplies from Kavumu airport. So, we had to take Bukavu to eliminate this threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the Congolese army continues to attack them with drones from Kisangani, violating the ceasefire agreement.<\/p>\n

Alliance fleuve Congo (AFC) military commander Gen Sultani Makenga during an interview with former Belgian senator Alain Destexhe, on March 12.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. Gen Sultani Makenga, the overall military commander of the AFC\/M23 rebel group, has welcomed the development of direct peace talks between rebels and the Congolese government slated for March 18, in Luanda, Angola. Makenga said this, on March 12, during an interview with Alain Destexhe, a former Belgian senator who has been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":97824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[6999,731,3331,2542,7093,758,7092],"class_list":["post-97825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-afc-m23","tag-african-union","tag-angola","tag-dr-congo","tag-joo-loureno","tag-rwanda","tag-sultani-makenga"],"yoast_head":"\nM23\u2019s Makenga welcomes Angola-mediated negotiations with Kinshasa - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/m23s-makenga-welcomes-angola-mediated-negotiations-with-kinshasa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"M23\u2019s Makenga welcomes Angola-mediated negotiations with Kinshasa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press – Rwanda. 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