More than a year after the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda signed an agreement intended to end their confrontation, the two countries are back at the negotiating table in Geneva. In eastern Congo, however, the guns have not gone quiet.
The dispute over the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, Rwanda’s military presence in Congolese territory and The March 23 Movement’s (M23) control of large parts of the east is now difficult to separate. While the DRC and Rwanda negotiate in Geneva, Kinshasa is pursuing a separate dialogue with the political alliance backing M23.
The talks are separate, but the conflicts they are trying to contain are not.
For Josue Akuzwe Walayi, a pro-democracy activist speaking from Kinshasa, another round of talks will mean little unless people begin to see a change in their daily lives.
“People are still waiting for the real benefits of peace that have been trumpeted for over a year. Fields continue to be ravaged in the east, and further displacement is still being reported,” he told Al Jazeera.
The armed group emerged from the aftermath of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, when members of the former Rwandan army and fighter groups involved in the killings fled into what is now eastern DRC. Kigali has long regarded the group’s presence near Rwanda’s border as a security threat.
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