DR Congo gov't, M23 rebels to hold new round of talks in Doha: AFC official

GOMA, DR Congo - A new round of talks between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) government and the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group is expected to unfold soon in Doha, the capital of Qatar, a senior official of the Congo River Alliance (AFC), a politico-military coalition allied with the M23, said on Thursday.

"For the fifth time, we will return to Doha to continue talks with the government side under the auspices of the Qatari mediator," said Freddy Kaniki, AFC deputy coordinator, at a press conference in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. Kaniki did not disclose a date for the upcoming talks.

Since late March this year, four rounds of talks have been held between the AFC/M23 and the DRC government, with Qatar acting as the mediator, according to Kaniki.

In late April, Kinshasa announced a joint commitment with the M23 to a ceasefire and a peace process.

Benjamin Mbonimpa, AFC's permanent secretary and head of its delegation to the Doha talks, mentioned that "some progress" was made following a meeting in June in Goma with Bintou Keita, head of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC.

On June 27, the DRC and Rwanda signed a landmark peace agreement in the United States, sparking hopes of ending years of armed conflict and humanitarian crises in the eastern DRC and the wider Great Lakes region.

However, the presence of M23 rebels in parts of the eastern DRC remains a reality on the ground and is not explicitly addressed in the agreement. The deal does acknowledge the role of Qatar, which facilitated multiple rounds of talks between Kinshasa and the M23.

According to the United Nations, more than 27.8 million people in the DRC are facing food insecurity, with over 7 million internally displaced, many of them multiple times.