Tshisekedi asks Putin to help end Rwanda conflict
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Punch
DRC President Félix Tshisekedi asked Vladimir Putin to help end the conflict with Rwanda and support efforts to achieve peace. Kinshasa accuses Kigali of backing the M23 armed group, while fighting continues despite an agreement reached in December, reports Punch.
The President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Félix Tshisekedi, on Friday asked Vladimir Putin to help end the conflict between the DRC and Rwanda. During a meeting with the Russian president in Moscow, Tshisekedi said he wanted Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to «absolutely» support «the pursuit of peace», reports AFP, cited by Punch.
Eastern DRC has been plagued by conflict for more than three decades. Since 2021, the M23 armed group, which Kinshasa accuses of being backed by Rwanda, has become a major opponent of the Congolese government. Kigali denies any involvement, while UN experts say that Rwandan forces continue to assist M23.
The DRC and Rwanda reached a US-mediated peace agreement in December, but fighting continues. Kinshasa is calling for the withdrawal of Rwandan forces from Congolese territory. Kigali, for its part, is asking the DRC to neutralise the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a militia founded by former Rwandan Hutu officials involved in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
Tshisekedi also sought Putin’s support at the Security Council to renew the mandate of MONUSCO, the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC, which expires in December. The previous day, he had asked Moscow to enforce the resolutions concerning eastern Congo (the resolutions on eastern Congo).
