DRC, Rwanda Hold Talks

FILE: DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta met in Angola on Wednesday amid a surge in tensions triggered by militia violence in eastern Congo. Taken October 31, 2022

DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta met in Angola on Wednesday amid a surge in tensions triggered by militia violence in eastern DRC.

President Tshisekedi and FM Biruta were received at a hotel in the capital Luanda by Angolan President Joao Lourenco, acting as a mediator between the two neighbors, an AFP correspondent saw.

The EAC's chair, Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye, and former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta -- the EAC's "facilitator" in efforts to restore peace and security in the mineral-rich region -- were also in Luanda.

But Rwandan President Paul Kagame was not in attendance, for reasons that were not immediately clear nor explained.

Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has witnessed fierce fighting in recent months between Congolese troops and the M23 rebel group.

The M23, a largely Tutsi militia, has seized swathes of territory across North Kivu province, edging towards the region's main city of Goma.

The clashes have triggered a diplomatic row, with the DRC accusing Rwanda of abetting the rebels, something that its far smaller neighbor denies.

The East African Community (EAC), of which Rwanda is a member, has also vowed to deploy a joint force to quell the violence.

Kenyan soldiers arrived in the DRC earlier this month and Uganda says it will shortly deploy around 1,000 troops.

On Tuesday, Kinshasa said it would not sit down for talks with M23 rebels until the group withdrew from the areas it controlled.

Meanwhile, Rwanda, denying the DRC's charges against it, accuses Kinshasa of colluding with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) -- a former Rwandan Hutu rebel group that was established in the DRC after the 1994 genocide.