DR Congo offers step towards truce

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The DR Congo government said Friday it had accepted "the principle" of a ceasefire, but its foes in the eastern conflict, the Rwanda-backed M23 militia, condemned "attempts at manipulation".

While the Congolese government gave no date for when the proposed truce would come into force, the announcement comes after mediator Angola called on the warring sides to respect a ceasefire from February 18.

The resource-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been mired in relentless violence between scores of armed groups for 30 years.

Angola in recent weeks has resumed its mediation efforts and released during Wednesday night a ceasefire proposal.

It followed the announcement last week that the United Nations would soon send peacekeepers to the eastern DRC to help enforce any ceasefire.

The region, which borders Rwanda and Burundi, has been targeted by the M23 since the anti-governmental group's resurgence in 2021.

Since then, half a dozen ceasefires and truces have been signed and broken.

"The president of the republic has accepted the principle of a ceasefire," the Congolese presidency said in a statement on Friday.

But the M23 reacted by denouncing "the delaying tactics and attempts at manipulation by the Kinshasa regime".

The group accused the DRC of continuing to carry out "indiscriminate attacks" in the region while claiming to support Angola's ceasefire proposal.

The aim, it said in a statement, was to delay the search for a lasting solution to end the conflict.

Violence sharply escalated when M23 fighters seized the North Kivu provincial capital of Goma in January last year as part of a lightning offensive across the country's east that left thousands dead.

Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, fell the following month.

Peace efforts led by Qatar and the United States have recently sought to end the crisis, leading to the signing of two separate accords.

Qatar has been mediating between the Congolese government and the M23 for several months, and a commitment towards a ceasefire was signed in July.

In a parallel effort, the DRC and Rwanda formalised a US-brokered peace deal in December in Washington.

However, the agreements have not so far succeeded in stopping the violence on the ground.

'Immediate freezing of positions'

On Friday, clashes were ongoing in the hills of South Kivu province around the town of Minembwe.

With the backing of a local militia and Burundian troops, the Congolese army has been carrying out an offensive for several days against an armed group allied to the M23, security and local sources said.

The Congolese government in its statement Friday set out a framework for the implementation of a ceasefire.

It called for the "strict and immediate freezing of positions", as well as an end to any military reinforcement and the cessation of any rotation or offensive resupplying.

It also calls for an "end to all external support to armed groups operating on national territory".

On Thursday, the acting head of the UN mission in the DRC landed by helicopter at Goma airport, which had been closed since the city fell to the M23.

The UN will deploy a first air reconnaissance mission in the city of Uvira in the coming days, Vivian van de Perre told reporters.

Uvira, which sits on the Burundian border, was seized by the M23 in December before its fighters withdrew under pressure from the United States.

The UN mission, MONUSCO, has around 7,000 UN peacekeepers in the eastern DRC. The closest base to Uvira is in Goma.

The African Union, which is now steering the peace talks, appointed Togolese leader Faure Gnassingbe to lead the mediation. He, in turn, has included Angolan President Joao Lourenco in the negotiations.

In late 2024, a previous mediation effort led by the Angolan president at the AU's request collapsed before a scheduled summit in Luanda, which was meant to bring together the Congolese and Rwandan presidents.