Key points
- Agreement was signed on Saturday in Doha
- Truce could potentially attract billions of dollars of Western investment
- Key details to end fighting still need to be negotiated
ISLAMABAD: Rwandan-backed M23 rebels have agreed to an immediate ceasefire with the Democratic Republic of Congo government in Qatar on Saturday.
The declaration comes amid heavy US pressure to finalise deals that would bring peace to eastern Congo. This could potentially attract billions of dollars of Western investment to a region rich in tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper, lithium and other minerals, according to Reuters.
On Friday, an official said the ceasefire formed part of a Declaration of Principles to be signed by the warring parties after three months of talks in the Gulf emirate.
Separate ceasefire
The M23 armed group, which seized vast swathes of mineral-rich territory in eastern DRC in a lightning offensive in January and February, had insisted on seeking its own ceasefire deal with Kinshasa after its Rwandan ally signed a peace agreement in Washington last month, AFP reported.
Rwanda has long denied helping M23 and says its forces are acting in self-defence against Congo’s army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
“The Declaration includes an agreement for an immediate ceasefire, outlines a commitment to begin formal negotiations on a comprehensive peace agreement in the near future, and establishes consensus on a mechanism for a permanent ceasefire,” the official said.
It also includes “a roadmap for restoring state authority in eastern DRC once a peace agreement is signed,” the official added.
Decades of chaos
Eastern DRC has been racked by conflict for more than three decades, creating a humanitarian crisis and forcing hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.
Thousands of people were killed in the M23 offensive earlier this year which saw the rebels capture the key provincial capitals of Goma and Bukavu.
The front line has stabilised since February, but fighting still breaks out regularly between the M23 and multiple pro-government militias.
