The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Felix Tshisekedi is considering a sit-down with Rwanda backed armed group M23.
Tshisekdi had previously ruled out dialogue with the group rampaging through the mineral rich eastern part of the country.
His consideration comes amidst a string of defeats, seizure of territories and regional pressure to begin talks with the groups.
Angola - in a surprise twist - had announced earlier in the week that it would host direct talks between Congo and M23 in its capital on March 18.
Despite not reacting publicly to the announcement, top officials in Tshisekedi’s government confirmed to Reuters that he was seriously considering sending a delegation to the proposed meeting.
"I haven't talked to a single African country that says Kinshasa shouldn't talk to M23," one senior diplomat said.
"The line of everyone is, 'How do you stop the fighting if you don't engage with them?'"
Another stated emphatically that Kinshasa would be attending but it was still unclear who would represent the government in Luanda next week.
Other sources said the debate was still ongoing and that a final decision was not likely to be made until next week.
M23, for its part, said on Thursday it was demanding an unequivocal commitment from Tshisekedi to engage in talks.
Southern and East African foreign and defence ministers are due to meet in Harare, Zimbabwe on Monday to discuss the push for a cessation of hostilities and political dialogue.
The fighting in eastern DRC has sparked a far reaching humanitarian crisis with over 7,000 people killed in January alone and 80,000 people displaced.
Russia’s health watchdog said on Friday it is monitoring an anthrax outbreak in Kazakhstan’s Akmola region, where two villages were quarantined af...
EBRD stated that Ukraine urgently needs new generation capacity after Russian attacks severely damaged its power sector, creating a significant shortf...
Belarus will play an active part in next month’s United Nations conference for landlocked developing countries in Turkmenistan, Foreign Minister Mak...
Thirty PKK members, half of them women, publicly destroyed their guns on Friday in Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah province, the clearest sign yet that the outl...
Germany and the UK will sign a new 'friendship treaty' next week to deepen cooperation on foreign policy, security, and economic ties amid global chal...
Russia’s health watchdog said on Friday it is monitoring an anthrax outbreak in Kazakhstan’s Akmola region, where two villages were quarantined after infections in cattle and local residents.
Belarus will play an active part in next month’s United Nations conference for landlocked developing countries in Turkmenistan, Foreign Minister Maksim Ryzhenkov told his Turkmen counterpart Rashid Meredov during a telephone call on Thursday.
Thirty PKK members, half of them women, publicly destroyed their guns on Friday in Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah province, the clearest sign yet that the outlawed group is moving to dismantle its four-decade armed campaign.
Germany and the UK will sign a new 'friendship treaty' next week to deepen cooperation on foreign policy, security, and economic ties amid global challenges.
Australian researchers have pioneered a low-cost and scalable plasma-based method to produce ammonia gas directly from air, offering a green alternative to the traditional fossil fuel-dependent Haber-Bosch process.
A series of earthquakes have struck Guatemala on Tuesday afternoon, leading authorities to advise residents to evacuate from buildings as a precaution against possible aftershocks.
Archaeologists have uncovered a 3,500-year-old city in northern Peru that likely served as a key trade hub connecting ancient coastal, Andean, and Amazonian cultures.
A deadly mass shooting early on Monday (7 July) in Philadelphia's Grays Ferry neighbourhood left three men dead and nine others wounded, including teenagers, as more than 100 shots were fired.
On July 4, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Khankendi, reaffirming the deep-rooted alliance between the two nations.
Germany’s public debt is projected to climb from 62.5% to 74% of GDP by 2030, driven by record defence and infrastructure spending, according to a report by the European rating agency Scope.
Migration offset natural decline for the fourth consecutive year, pushing the European Union’s population to an historic high of 450.4 million in 2024, according to Eurostat figures released on Friday.
The global oil market may be tighter than headline supply-demand figures suggest, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Friday, citing rising refinery activity and seasonal summer demand as key drivers of short-term market pressure.
China’s exports are expected to have grown 5% in June as manufacturers hurried goods abroad ahead of a 12 August deadline that could see the U.S. restore punitive tariffs, a Reuters survey of economists indicates.
Russia’s health watchdog said on Friday it is monitoring an anthrax outbreak in Kazakhstan’s Akmola region, where two villages were quarantined after infections in cattle and local residents.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment