The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo will send its first team to monitor a ceasefire between Congo’s government and the AFC/M23 rebel group in the coming days, Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Monday after hosting talks in Doha.
Qatar said the team would be deployed to Uvira, a strategic city in eastern Congo that AFC/M23 fighters captured in December during a rapid offensive, and which Congolese forces and allied militias re-entered last month, restoring government control after the rebels announced they would withdraw.
The announcement late Monday is a sign of progress in Doha-mediated direct talks between Congo and the AFC/M23 rebels, who last year seized more land than they had ever held before in eastern Congo. The United States is hosting separate talks between Congo and Rwanda, which the United Nations and Western powers say backs AFC/M23, an allegation Kigali denies.
The Qatari foreign ministry said on Monday that Congo and M23 had agreed on detailed terms of reference for the ceasefire monitoring mechanism created under an agreement reached in October, and reaffirmed their commitments under the broader peace deal framework signed in November.
The latest push to activate ceasefire monitoring comes amid persistent fighting in the east. Over the weekend, explosive-laden drones targeted the airport serving the northeastern Congolese city of Kisangani, Congolese authorities said.
If confirmed to be an AFC/M23 operation, it would be the furthest west the group has struck during its offensive against the government in Kinshasa.
Reporting by Clement Bonnerot in Dakar and Menna Alaa El-Din in Cairo; Writing by Clement Bonnerot; Editing by Robbie Corey-Boulet and Lincoln Feast
