KAMPALA, Uganda
\nLeaders from eastern and southern Africa on Saturday called for an immediate ceasefire in eastern Congo, where rebels are threatening to overthrow the Congolese government, but also urged Congo\u2019s president to directly negotiate with them.
\nCongolese President Felix Tshisekedi, who attended the summit in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam by videoconference, has previously said he would never talk to the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels he sees as driven to exploit his country\u2019s vast mineral wealth.
\nA communique at the end of talks urged the resumption of \u201cdirect negotiations and dialogue with all state and non-state parties,\u201d including M23. The rebels seized Goma, the biggest city in eastern Congo, following fighting that left nearly 3,000 dead and hundreds of thousands of displaced, according to the UN
\nThe unprecedented joint summit included leaders from the East African Community bloc, of which both Rwanda and Congo are members, and those from the Southern African Development Community, or SADC, which includes countries ranging from Congo to South Africa.
\nRwandan President Paul Kagame attended the summit along with his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, who has angered the Rwandans by deploying South African troops in eastern Congo under the banner of SADC to fight M23.
\nRwanda has blamed the deployment of SADC peacekeepers for worsening the conflict in North Kivu, a mineral-rich province in eastern Congo that\u2019s now controlled by M23. Kagame insists SADC troops were not peacekeepers because they were fighting alongside Congolese forces to defeat the rebels.
\nThe rebels are backed by some 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to UN experts, while Congolese government forces are backed by regional peacekeepers, UN forces, allied militias and troops from neighboring Burundi. They\u2019re now focused on preventing the rebels from taking Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province.
\nDialogue \u2018is not a sign of weakness\u2019
\nThe M23 rebellion stems partly from Rwanda\u2019s decades-long concern that rebels opposed to Kagame\u2019s government have been allowed by Congo\u2019s military to be active in largely lawless parts of eastern Congo. Kagame also charges that Tshisekedi has overlooked the legitimate concerns of Congolese Tutsis who face discrimination.
\nKenyan President William Ruto told the summit that \u201cthe lives of millions depend on our ability to navigate this complex and challenging situation with wisdom, clarity of mind, empathy.\u201d
\nDialogue \u201cis not a sign of weakness,\u201d said Ruto, the current chair of the East African Community. \u201cIt is in this spirit that we must encourage all parties to put aside their differences and mobilize for engagements in constructive dialogue.\u201d
\nThe M23 advance echoed the rebels\u2019 previous capture of Goma over a decade ago and shattered a 2024 ceasefire, brokered by Angola, between Rwanda and Congo.
\nSome regional analysts fear that the rebels\u2019 latest offensive is more potent because they are linking their fight to wider agitation for better governance and have vowed to go all the way to the capital, Kinshasa, 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) west of Goma.
\nRebels face pressure to pull out of Goma
\nThe Congo River Alliance, a coalition of rebel groups including M23, said in an open letter to the summit that they are fighting a Congolese regime that \u201cflouted republican norms\u201d and is \u201cbecoming an appalling danger for the Congolese people.\u201d
\n\u201cThose who are fighting against Mr. Tshisekedi are indeed sons of the country, nationals of all the provinces,\u201d it said. \u201cSince our revolution is national, it encompasses people of all ethnic and community backgrounds, including Congolese citizens who speak the Kinyarwanda language.\u201d
\nThe letter, signed by Corneille Nangaa, a leader of the rebel alliance, said the group was \u201copen for a direct dialogue\u201d with the Congolese government.
\nBut the rebels and their allies also face pressure to pull out of Goma.
\nIn addition to calling for the immediate reopening of the airport in Goma, the summit in Dar es Salaam also called for the drawing of \u201cmodalities for withdrawal of uninvited foreign armed groups\u201d from Congolese territory.
\nA meeting in Equatorial Guinea Friday of another regional bloc, the Economic Community of Central African States, also called for the immediate withdrawal of Rwandan troops from Congo as well as the airport\u2019s reopening to facilitate access to humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KAMPALA, Uganda Leaders from eastern and southern Africa on Saturday called for an immediate ceasefire in eastern Congo, where rebels are threatening to overthrow the Congolese government, but also urged Congo\u2019s president to directly negotiate with them. Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, who attended the summit in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam by videoconference, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460605,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-460581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n