A delegation of clergy from the DRCongo, led by the president of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (ENCO), Fulgence Muteba, was received this Monday, in audience, by the President, João Lourenço, at the Presidential Palace in Luanda.
The current conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo guided the conversation between João Lourenço and the Congolese religious leaders, as Reverend Éric Nsenga said at the end of the hearing, recalling that his displacement was part of "ecclesiastical diplomacy".
"As you know, the DR Congo is going through a difficult period, a period of conflict, which is why we prelates have this need to speak with the various actors and today we came to see President João Lourenço, who is a very important actor in this process," he told journalists.
Éric Nsenga highlighted the figure of João Lourenço not only as a mediator of the well-known Luanda process – for peace in the DR Congo – but also as the current president of the African Union.
"And we believe that President João Lourenço can play a very important role in helping us find solutions to resolve this crisis that is still looming over the DR Congo," he said, considering that the Angolan head of state has already shown his commitment to this process.
João Lourenço, as president of the African Union, will be the "pilot" of the Luanda and Nairobi processes, as highlighted by the delegation's spokesperson, stating that the President must work on the "basis of efforts already made" in order to find "a quick solution to this crisis that has been going on for quite some time".
"Our trip also has to do with taking the example of Angola, which went through a situation almost similar to ours, which is why we came to take advantage of the expertise of the Angolans in how they managed to put an end to this situation", concluded Reverend Éric Nsenga.
Nairobi is the site of one of the peace processes launched in recent years to end the violence of more than a hundred militias operating in eastern DR Congo, while another initiative known as the Luanda process, mediated by the Angolan President, has focused specifically on the M23 conflict.
As part of the Luanda process, a failed ceasefire between the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and the M23 was agreed on 31 July 2024.
Armed activity by the M23 – a group made up mainly of Tutsis victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide – resumed in November 2021 with attacks against the Congolese army in North Kivu, and the group has since advanced on several fronts, raising fears of a possible regional war.
The conflict between the DR Congo and the M23 rebels, supported by Rwanda, has intensified in recent months and the armed movement occupied the capital of the Congolese province of North Kivu, Goma, at the end of January.
