The International Contact Group for the Great Lakes has given a statement on the situation in the Great Lakes region.
The International Contact Group for the Great Lakes, including representatives from Belgium, European Union, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States, is deeply disappointed at the postponement of the December 15 Tripartite Summit on Peace and Security. It is important to preserve and expand the months of laudable progress towards finding a sustainable path to ending the conflict in eastern DRC. We are also deeply concerned with the breaches to the cease fire and the renewed fighting in eastern DRC.
In recent months, we have seen meaningful political commitment by both parties to address longstanding grievances, with constructive agreements through the Luanda Process as recently as November 25.
We welcomed the commitment to a concept of operations to trigger harmonized action by the DRC to neutralize the FDLR and for Rwanda to disengage its forces - both hugely significant pledges and key to reducing the tensions that for too long have made North Kivu a battleground.
We commend the unwavering commitment by Angolan President João Lourenço to achieve a Peace Accord through the Luanda Process and call on all regional leaders to push for a renewed diplomatic effort at this critical time.
We urge the leaders of the DRC and Rwanda to take advantage of the unstinting support of Angola to arrange for a new round of talks as soon as possible, to show good faith and willingness to compromise and to build on the steps already taken towards ending the fighting, which has seen an uptick in recent days.
In the context of the Rwanda Defence Force presence in eastern DRC, we reiterate the importance of territorial integrity and express concern at the continued territorial expansion by M23. We also urge all sides to refrain from inflammatory public statements. We express our support for the Angolan-led Ad Hoc Verification Mechanism, and request parties to promptly enable the Mechanism to fulfill its mandate.
