The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and M23 rebels are holding talks in Switzerland, the latest effort to curb deadly fighting that has persisted despite a December peace accord.<\/p>\n
The new round of negotiations between the two sides began on Monday, with mediation by the United States and Qatar, according to media reports.<\/p>\n
The Congolese government and the AFC\/M23 rebel coalition signed an interim peace monitoring mechanism during the talks, Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The agreement establishes a body to track humanitarian and security developments and monitor potential ceasefire violations, RFI said.<\/p>\n
The mechanism will include representatives from both the DRC government and armed group, with support from the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).<\/p>\n
Reporting from Goma in eastern DRC, Al Jazeera\u2019s Alain Uaykani said the talks are taking place \u201cwhile the situation on the ground is very fragile\u201d, with both sides accusing each other of violating truce agreements.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the area of Minembwe [in South Kivu province], for example, thousands of civilians are caught in the middle of the battle between different groups,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
People on the ground in the eastern DRC hope mediators will press both sides to respect a new durable peace mechanism, after a string of failed deals, added Uaykani.<\/p>\n
\u2018Dire humanitarian crisis\u2019<\/p>\n
The AFC\/M23 rebel coalition has seized large swaths of territory in the eastern DRC since the start of 2025, taking key cities, including Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, and Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu.<\/p>\n
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame \u2013 whose country has been accused of backing the M23 rebels \u2013 signed a \u201chistoric\u201d peace and economic agreement in Washington, DC, in December, aimed at ending fighting in the DRC.<\/p>\n
Separate peace talks mediated by Qatar have also taken place between the DRC and the M23.<\/p>\n
Despite peace efforts, clashes have continued, also flaring up almost immediately after the signing of the December deal. Most recently, fighting has reached the highland areas of South Kivu, according to media reports.<\/p>\n
In a statement on Tuesday, Human Rights Watch accused the warring parties of blocking aid deliveries and stopping civilians from fleeing the South Kivu highlands.<\/p>\n
\u201cCivilians in South Kivu\u2019s highlands are facing a dire humanitarian crisis and live in fear of abuses by all parties,\u201d said Clementine de Montjoye, senior Great Lakes researcher at Human Rights Watch.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore attention is needed for this vastly underreported conflict or this bad situation will get even worse.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and M23 rebels are holding talks in Switzerland, the latest effort…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[28555,28553,28554,28556,28557,28550,4036,28551,28552,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-49860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-switzerland","8":"tag-alain-uaykani","9":"tag-congolese-government","10":"tag-democratic-republic-of-the-congo","11":"tag-drc-government","12":"tag-humanitarian-crisis","13":"tag-m23-rebels","14":"tag-peace-talks","15":"tag-radio-france-internationale","16":"tag-south-kivu","17":"tag-switzerland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116413975928506698","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}