By Enyichukwu Enemanna
M23 rebels staging a deadly offensive in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo have announced their readiness to pull out forces from the seized town of Walikale in support of peace efforts.
The announcement on Saturday by the Rwanda-backed group marks a U-turn from its earlier position when it said it would keep troops there while pushing on to the capital, Kinshasa.
The government said it hoped the move would be translated into concrete action, after M23 group earlier this week pulled out of planned talks with Congolese authorities in Angola just 24 hours before the meeting, citing EU sanctions on some of its leaders and Rwandan officials.
DRC President Félix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, attended a face-to-face peace talk in Qatar, the first since January when the group seized two major cities in eastern Congo. A peace deal was struck, but Kigali insisted on Kinshasa meeting directly with the rebels.
The Congo River Alliance, which includes M23, said in a statement on Saturday that it had “decided to reposition its forces” from Walikale and surrounding areas that M23 took control of this week.
This decision was in line with a ceasefire declared in February and in support of peace initiatives, it said in a statement that was greeted with scepticism by army officers.
A senior member of the alliance who did not wish to be named said repositioning meant withdrawing to “give peace a chance”. The source declined to say where M23 rebels would withdraw to.
“We are asking for Walikale and the surrounding areas to remain demilitarised,” the source said. “If the FARDC (Congo’s army) and their allies come back, this means they want to relaunch hostilities.”
DRC’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, told reporters: “We are going to see whether M23 will withdraw from Walikale and whether M23 will give priority to dialogue and peace … So we hope that this will be translated into concrete action.”
Walikale is the farthest west the rebels have reached in an unprecedented advance that has already overrun eastern Congo’s two largest cities since January.
