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M23 rebels have agreed to continue an “orderly withdrawal” from conquered territories in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said Thursday.
Uhuru Kenyatta, who played a mediating role in the conflict and represents a group of five East African countries, spoke with M23 officials, according to a press release from the former president issued after a meeting in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa.
“As a goodwill pledge to strive for reconciliation in North Kivu, the M23 leadership has agreed to continue an orderly withdrawal and to respect a strict ceasefire,” Uhuru Kenyatta said in a statement. rice field.
“They also agreed to continue to respect and cooperate with the East African Area Command (EAC), which has begun to take control of the area from which the M23 had just withdrawn,” the former president said.
The withdrawal of these M23s followed the decision of a summit held in Luanda on 23 November, which called for a ceasefire and withdrawal of rebels from the conquered territories for a year.
After a largely Tutsi insurgency was defeated in 2013, the M23 (“March 23 Movement”) re-armed itself in late 2021, accusing Kinshasa of failing to honor promises on the demobilization of combatants.
Its revival has rekindled historic tensions between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, which have been accused of supporting and fighting the M23.
Kigali denies it, accusing the Congolese military of complicity with the Rwandan Hutu rebellion that has established in the eastern DRC since the 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda.
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