Goma – The M23 rebel group active in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo said on Thursday that it is not bound by a ceasefire deal announced the previous day.
M23 spokesperson Willy Ngoma told AFP that the deal brokered between the Congolese and Rwandan presidents in Angola on Wednesday was irrelevant.
“We are Congolese, not Rwandan,” he said. “If there’s a ceasefire, it can only be between us and the Congolese government”.
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The announcement comes after talks between the DRC’s leader Felix Tshisekedi and Rwanda’s Paul Kagame in Angola on Wednesday raised the prospect of a ceasefire between the M23 and the Congolese government.
Violence between the mostly Congolese Tutsi rebel group and the DRC’s army has flared in recent weeks and is ongoing.
The DRC has repeatedly accused Rwanda of backing the M23, a charge the small central African country has always denied.
M23 fighters and Congolese troops engaged in fresh clashes in Congo’s eastern North Kivu province on Thursday, according to several sources.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter /@PraiseAkello
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