Tshisekedi of the Congo urges Rwanda to make peace as diplomacy falters

Felix Tshisekedi, the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, publicly urged his Rwandan colleague to assist in putting an end to an M23 rebel insurrection during a speech at an economic forum in Brussels on Thursday. Kigali accused him of being a phony.

The U.S. and Qatar’s mediation efforts to stop the crisis have failed, and combat is still going on in eastern Congo, where hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and thousands have been killed this year.

“It’s not too late to do things right,” Tshisekedi stated at the Global Gateway Forum in Barcelona.

“I take this forum as a witness to extend my hand to you, Mr. President, so that we can make peace between brave men,” he remarked, referring specifically to Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, himself.

In order to achieve peace, Tshisekedi added, Rwanda must order M23 to cease its military escalation.

With this year’s lightning offensive, M23 has increased its territory in eastern Congo.

Rwanda has always maintained that its military fight in self-defense and denied supporting M23. In July, however, a team of U.N. specialists reported that Kigali had command and control over the rebels.

According to U.S. President Donald Trump, he wants to ease the region’s ongoing violence stemming from the 1994 Rwandan genocide and encourage investment in its mining industry.

A peace agreement between Congo and Rwanda was signed in Washington in June, and Congo and M23 have taken part in several rounds of direct negotiations that Doha has hosted.

Some aspects of the peace deal have been delayed, according to the U.S. State Department last month.

Reuters was informed by people with knowledge of the situation that Kinshasa was not willing to initial the economic framework that Rwanda and Congo were supposed to sign last week.

On Thursday, Rwandan authorities denied Tshisekedi’s request and accused Kinshasa of inflaming tensions.

On X, Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said, “President Tshisekedi and HE ALONE are the only ones who can stop this escalation,” accusing the Congolese leader of employing aggressive language toward Kigali.

The president of Rwanda’s press secretary, Stephanie Nyombayire, claimed on X that Tshisekedi had used a stage in Brussels to portray himself as a peacemaker while “claiming victimhood of the very conflict he caused and has refused to resolve.”