East Africa: the resurgence of M23 in eastern DRC at the heart of a mini-summit
Members of the ex-M23 in February 2014. (Image illustration) AFP PHOTO/ ISAAC KASAMANI
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Five countries of the Community of East African States (EAC) have been invited to take part in the meeting: Kenya, Burundi, Uganda, DRC and Rwanda.
This meeting comes ten days after the formal accession of the DRC to the EAC.
In Kinshasa, this accession is seen as an opportunity to strengthen security in eastern DRC.
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With our correspondent in Nairobi
,
Florence Morice
Already on April 8, the DRC's accession treaty had barely been signed when Presidents Tshisekedi, Kagame, Museveni and Kenyatta met discreetly behind closed doors to discuss the thorny issue of
insecurity in eastern the DRC
.
The meeting of the day is intended to continue the dialogue then initiated by associating this time Burundi, whose President Évariste Ndayishimiye made the trip.
Because in addition to the economic stakes,
the DRC sees in its accession to the East African Community
an opportunity to obtain support capable of influencing Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
Kinshasa suspects its neighbor of being partly responsible for the renewed activity of the M23, by supplying it with weapons in particular, which Kigali denies.
The climate of the discussions promises to be delicate.
On Wednesday, in his speech to the United Nations, the DRC ambassador considered that "
this resurrection of the M23 seriously begins the process of restoring confidence between the States of the region
".
Conversely, the latest statements by the M23 could be perceived as a sign of appeasement.
The movement says it wants a “
peaceful settlement of the crisis
” and last week announced its withdrawal from many localities.
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