Title: ICGLR Extraordinary Summit in Luanda on the Security Situation in Eastern DRC and Sudan
Jean-Pierre Bemba, Deputy Prime Minister of Defense and Veterans of the Democratic Republic of Congo, traveled to Luanda, Angola, on a working mission last Friday to participate in the extraordinary summit of the International Conference on Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) on the security situation in eastern DRC and Sudan. This visit takes place in the context of the involvement of Angola, which chairs the CIRGL, which organization is very concerned about the tension which reigns in the east of the DRC.
The DRC and Rwanda had adopted a roadmap on July 7, 2022 in Luanda to promote peace and stability in the Great Lakes region, but so far Rwanda and its M23 auxiliaries are delaying its implementation, unlike at the will of the Member States of the ICGLR, the African Union (AU) and the international community.
For several months, RDF/M23 troops have repeatedly violated the ceasefire in several localities in North Kivu, thus sabotaging the Luanda and Nairobi processes. Angola took the decision on March 11 to send its troops to the DRC to secure the areas where members of the M23 are stationed. This unit, with a force of 500 soldiers, intervenes in support of the Congolese government troops. Although the Angolan Parliament has given its agreement to the sending of a contingent of soldiers to the DRC, Rwanda continues to slow down the implementation of the resolution adopted in the roadmap, under cover of its M23 deputies.
The presence of Jean-Pierre Bemba in Luanda marks an important turning point for the DRC. The deputy prime minister is heavily involved in Congolese politics and has earned a reputation as a cautious and sophisticated politician. His presence at this extraordinary ICGLR summit is therefore a strong signal from the DRC to resolve the crisis in the east of the country.
For the time being, the political and administrative authorities remain confident and are calling for an end to the violence in eastern DRC and Sudan. Citizen movements, for their part, denounce the forcing of the law on the distribution of seats in the electoral process in the DRC and call for its suspension. However, Western embassies welcome the efforts of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) to organize elections in the country, despite some lingering concerns