The head of state, who spoke this Wednesday, by videoconference, at the meeting of the Bureau of the Assembly of the African Union (AU), considered that the latest events on the border between DRCongo and neighboring Rwanda are worrying and insisted on a return to dialogue. .
"The situation is in fact quite tense. The parties must dialogue", underlined João Lourenço, quoted by Angop.
João Lourenço acknowledged that, at the moment, there is no environment for the two parties to dialogue at the level of heads of state, having been established that next Saturday the intelligence services of the two countries and that of Angola will meet in Luanda.
The intention is to gauge, "from a technical point of view, what is really happening on the ground", he explained. "We are also going to meet, in Luanda, the ministers of Foreign Affairs of the two countries, also next Saturday", added Joao Lourenço.
"The door to dialogue must always be open at all levels, intelligence services, the military, diplomacy and the heads of state themselves", he stressed.
The Angolan Foreign Minister, Téte António, recently traveled to Kinshasa (DRCongo) and Kigali (Rwanda) where he met the Presidents of the two countries, Félix Tshisekedi and Paul Kagame, respectively.
The President of the Republic also expressed his satisfaction with the fact that Kenya "has taken another step towards the solution of this conflict that places two sister countries on opposite sides" and called for a joint effort to put an end to the growing tension that exists in the last few weeks between the two countries.
He also regretted the expulsion of the Rwandan ambassador by the Kinshasa authorities, stating that DRCongo is "very sorry" about what is happening in its own territory, and urged maximum restraint in the measures to be taken by the two countries, according to Angop.
Angola presides over the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (CIRGL), a geographic block to which DRCongo belongs and, as such, João Lourenço, mandated by the African Union to mediate the conflict, has taken initiatives to achieve peace.
Tension between DRCongo and Rwanda has grown in recent months, following the resumption in March of fighting between the DR Congo army and the March 23 Movement (M23), which according to the Kinshasa authorities is supported by the neighboring country.
Kenya announced the deployment of Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) troops to eastern DRCongo in a regional operation to combat the Congolese rebel group M23.
Kenyan army troops are part of a special operation sent by the East African Community to combat insecurity, especially in the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri. This will be the second action on the ground, after Burundi sent a contingent on 15 August.
More than five million people, two million of them in North Kivu province, have been forced from their homes due to a high increase in insecurity and violence in eastern DRCongo in the last two years.
The rebels have been accused since November 2021 of carrying out attacks against army positions in North Kivu, although the Congolese authorities and the M23 signed a peace agreement in December 2013, following fighting since 2012 with the army, which was supported by UN troops.
The M23, made up mainly of Tutsis, took up arms again in 2021 and has already managed to take the cities of Kiwanja and Rutshuru, located along the main road that serves Goma. United Nations (UN) experts accused Uganda and Rwanda of supporting the rebels, although both countries denied this.
The renewed tension alarmed the international community, and the AU called for a ceasefire.
