Tshisekedi Accuses Rwanda of Looting in Eastern DR Congo at Mini-summit Chaired by Angola’s João Lourenço

The President of Angola, Joao Lourenco, on Friday hosted an Extraordinary Mini-Summit on the security situation in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

President Lourenco was appointed as a mediator by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) for the de-escalation of the situation in the eastern DRC.

The mini-summit was attended by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Rwanda President Paul Kagame and DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi at the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Peace & Security Building.

The mini-summit, which came ahead of the African Union Heads of State and Government Summit in Addis Ababa, was aimed at addressing the root causes of the ongoing insecurity in eastern DRC, including bad governance, ethnic discrimination and violence.

“The objective of this mini-summit is to think together to obtain a ceasefire between the DRC and the M23, and to attempt a possible direct dialogue between the Heads of State of Rwanda and DRC because the situation is deteriorating,” declared President Lourenco.

In his intervention during the closed-door work of the mini-summit on the security situation in DRC, President Tshisekedi demonstrated the involvement of Rwanda in the maintenance of insecurity and the looting of wealth in the Eastern Congo.

Kinshasa, along with the United Nations and Western countries, accuses DR Congo’s much smaller neighbour Rwanda of backing the rebels, a charge Kigali denies.

The mini-summit which will continue today, Saturday, discussed, among other things, the return to a constructive and reconciliatory dialogue between DRC and Rwanda, ⁠ the immediate cessation of hostilities, ⁠ the immediate withdrawal of the M23 from occupied areas and ⁠ the launch of the process of confining this movement.

According to a U.N. document quoted by AFP on Monday, the Rwandan army is using sophisticated weapons such as surface-to-air missiles to support M23.

U.N. forces have been in the DRC for nearly 25 years but have been accused of failing to protect civilians from armed groups.