DR Congo - Rwanda: João Lourenço to join Kagame and Tshisekedi in Luanda meeting - BBC News

2022-06-03 21:26:08 By : Ms. Sarah Liu

President Tshisekedi and Lourenço at a meeting in Luanda, Angola on TuesdayPresident Felix Tshisekedi has agreed to release two Rwandan soldiers detained in DR Congo at the request of his Angolan counterpart João Lourenço at a joint meeting in Luanda on Tuesday, according to the Angolan state news agency Angop.The soldiers will be released in the coming days with the aim of reducing the number of bad breaths, according to Angop, according to a statement issued after the meeting.The DR Congo and Rwanda sides have not confirmed the report by the Angolan media.Corporal Nkundabagenzi Elysee and Private Ntwari Gad of the Rwandan Armed Forces were spotted by the DR Congo forces last weekend, as evidence of their accusations that Rwanda had entered the country to assist the M23 group.It came at a time when tensions were running high between the two countries over the fighting between the Congolese army and MONUSCO, and the M23 rebels.The UN says two MONUSCO soldiers were seriously injured in the clashes, while 16 DR Congo soldiers were killed and 22 were injured.About 100,000 people have fled their homes in Rutshuru and Nyiragongo territories in the past week alone.But so far many are returning to their homes after the quake, and the M23 rebels have left areas occupied by Rutshuru and Nyiragongo.The Rwandan military says the DR Congo-abducted soldiers were on duty near the border, while the Congolese claim to have been detained more than 20 km from the border.As a result of his accusations against Rwanda, the Congolese government has suspended flights from Rwandair to Kinshasa and called on its ambassador to comment on the allegations against Kigali.The Rwandan government accuses the Congolese army of collaborating with the FDLR and firing on bombs in Rwanda, destroying houses and injuring civilians, during the fighting in DR Congo.Speaking to reporters on Tuesday evening, Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta said the government was "not only watching" when bombs continued to be fired on Rwandan territory, but also stressed that Rwanda was "seeking peace". .On Sunday and Monday, President Macky Sall of the African Union also met with Tshisekedi and Kagame over the phone to discuss the issue of tensions between the two countries.President João Lourenço, head of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), met with Tshisekedi in an effort to find a peaceful solution.After the meeting, Lourenço spoke on videoconference with Paul Kagame of Rwanda, according to Angop, according to a statement from the President's Office.The talks resulted in Lourenço inviting the two heads of state to a meeting in Luanda at an undisclosed time for peace in the region.Meanwhile, the UN Security Council convened on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of a peaceful end to the M23 disarmament.© 2022 BBC.The BBC is not available for comment on other sites.Read about our stand on one hundred sites elsewhere