On June 3, the President of Angola, Joao Lourenço, organized an extraordinary summit of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (CIRGL) in Luanda. The objectives were to take stock of the growing insecurity in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and to find measures to remedy it. This was announced by Christophe Lutundula, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Foreign Affairs, during the weekly briefing hosted by the Minister of Communication and Media, Patrick Muyaya, on June 5th.
Despite the measures taken at the previous Nairobi summit, the objectives have not yet been achieved according to Christophe Lutundula. He underscored the need for an assessment of the ICGLR, which includes many member countries of the Community of East African States (EAC). Indeed, tensions and conflicts persist in certain areas, although everyone agrees on the need to respect the sovereignty of the DRC.
The Deputy Prime Minister also specified that the Democratic Republic of Congo did not refuse that the M23 be integrated into the Program of disarmament, demobilization, community recovery and social reintegration. However, it is necessary to achieve a real cessation of hostilities, a real withdrawal by sham, pre-cantonment and cantonment, disarmament and integration. The return of displaced Congolese to their homes and of the Congolese administration to occupied spaces is also essential to restore the sovereignty of the Congolese state.
The ICGLR is committed to this issue, but many obstacles remain. A quadripartite coordination summit is scheduled for June 23 in Luanda, with the participation of the EAC, the CIRGL, SADC and ECCAS under the aegis of the African Union to try to find new solutions for remedy this difficult situation.
Ultimately, the situation remains worrying in eastern DRC, despite the efforts made by the ICGLR to remedy it. There is still a long way to go for peace and stability to return to this region of the country which has been plagued by conflict for several years.