DR Congo crisis talks shift to near battlezone

Arusha. The guns have not been silenced, especially after the recent horrific massacre of 300 civilians.

But now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) crisis talks will shift near the very burning battlezone.

This was one of the outcomes of the just concluded peace dialogue in Nairobi, which attracted representatives of the armed groups.

The East African Community (EAC) is spearheading what is called the Nairobi Peace Process in a bid to resolve the crisis.

The regional body said in a statement yesterday that the talks would resume in January next year but the venue would change.

“A meeting will be held in Goma and Bunia to assess the progress made,” the secretariat said yesterday in a statement.

Goma is the capital of North Kivu province in the eastern DRC, a spitting distance from the battlezone between the government’s forces and M23 rebels.

Bunia is the capital city of Ituri province to the north and has been an epic centre of deadly conflicts between an array of militias.

Consequently, it is the base of one of the largest UN peace- keeping forces in Africa as the militias and foreign forces fight for its mineral resources.

The EAC, whose senior officials have been hopping from one capital to another over the crisis, confirmed this yesterday.

The announcement followed the wrapping up of eight days of dialogue in the Kenyan capital under the Facilitator former president Uhuru Kenyatta.

He was clear that no major breakthrough had been made in the dialogue he initiated months before stepping down in September.

“We are not saying we have completed everything, but we have managed to achieve some milestones,” he was quoted saying.

The former Kenyan leader said he was optimistic that some progress would be made on the peace process “when we meet again in Goma”.

He did not say anything about M25, an armed outfit blamed for the latest round of violence but which was not represented in Nairobi.

In a twist of events, the group which the Kinshasa authorities claim is supported by Rwanda, on Tuesday announced its withdrawal plan.

Countless times, the shadowy group which had been battling government forces had requested to negotiate directly with the DRC government authorities.

At other times, they have requested a meeting with the East African Regional Force and Ad-Hoc Verification Mechanism “to discuss the implementation modalities”.

Tens of hundreds of troops from the EAC partner states - Kenya, Burundi, South Sudan and Uganda - have already been deployed to eastern DR Congo.

Experts believe without M23 at the negotiating table, peace will remain elusive in eastern Congo as the group appears to hold ‘bigger muscle’ in the battlefield.