The situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C.) has destabilized after reaching a short-lived ceasefire in August. Despite ceasefire violations, the D.R.C. and Rwanda have committed to continuing public dialogue. The Angolan chief of state, João Lourenço, was tasked with brokering the negotiations. However, peace talks between Presidents Félix Tshisekedi of the D.R.C. and Paul Kagame of Rwanda, scheduled for December 15th in Luanda, were abruptly canceled, leaving the Kivu war at yet another impasse.
“Contrary to what we expected, the summit will no longer be held today,” Angolan media officer Mario Jorge told journalists on the day of the conference. According to the Congolese presidency, the stalemate is a product of Rwandan demands that the D.R.C. engage in direct dialogue with the M23 rebel group, an ethnic Tutsi Kigali-backed militia responsible for large parts of the violence in the eastern Kivu province. Two days before the summit, Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe expressed his country’s need for “a firm commitment from the D.R.C. to resume direct talks with the M23 within a well-defined framework and time-frame.” However, the D.R.C. holds that if a treaty is reached with Rwanda, M23 will simultaneously desist from violent actions in the country.
The standstill in the negotiations presents a worrying scenario: as fighting intensifies in north Kivu, the humanitarian crisis worsens, and thousands more are displaced. This instance of failed negotiations is not the first nor the last in a complex decades-long conflict. To truly bring about an effective and holistic peace process, the underlying roots of the violence must also be addressed. Rebel groups in the D.R.C. are either Kigali or Kinshasa-backed, and militias will not demobilize as long as they find fighting profitable. Thus, it is the elites that must be managed. A true peace process must be accompanied by institution-building and cross-border economic cooperation that supports and strengthens it. The international community, including The South African Development Community (S.A.D.C.) and M.O.N.U.S.C.O. (United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo), should refocus their attention from troop deployment to long-lasting democratic peace-building efforts, including a focus on economic cooperation. This would in turn increase economic development and trade, fostering greater stability in a region where mineral wealth interests are at the forefront. Moreover, foreign actors such as China, Switzerland, and the U.A.E. must also forego their interests and prioritize the D.R.C.’s well-being in place of economic exploitation, leaving room for internal resolution.
The historical foundations of the conflict, dating back to the 1994 Rwandan Tutsi genocide, must also be addressed. After the genocide, millions of people, including armed fighters, fled to the neighboring D.R.C. This spillover of ethnic wars caused Rwanda, Uganda, and Angola to invade the D.R.C. and target Hutu génocidaires during the First and Second Congolese Wars of 1996 and 1998. As a result, rebel groups, including M23, emerged, armed by these same powers. In 2012, after the resolution of both wars, M23 took over the Kivu capital of Goma, and after arduous confrontations, a peace deal was reached; however, the rebel group resurfaced in 2021, and fighting has since intensified. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, nearly 358,000 people have been displaced in the D.R.C. since the beginning of 2024, and the food crisis has worsened. Human Rights Watch reposts that massacres, abductions, sexual violence, recruitment of children, and other attacks on civilians with near total impunity remain prevalent in the Kivu provinces.
Although the Congolese situation remains overshadowed in the international community, often referred to as the Forgotten War, the scale of the humanitarian crisis cannot be ignored and must be at the forefront of peace efforts. An effective and progressive resolution of the conflict would bring greater stability and development to the region, whose geopolitical significance cannot continue to be ignored. It is difficult to build a path forward in such a deep-rooted and multidimensional conflict. Nonetheless, Kinshasa and Kigali’s commitment to sustained peace talks shed a hopeful yet doubt-ridden light on the road toward peace. These efforts can only move forward so long as they have outside support and dedicated leaders who are willing to prioritize peace. The future of negotiations must include ethical approaches to address elitist and economic interests as well as military struggles.