05/09/13Allafrica.com: Central Africa: Congo, Rwanda Leaders Meet in Bid to Broker Peace Talks with M23 Rebels

Congolese President Joseph
Kabila held talks with his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame on Thursday as
leaders of Africa's Great Lakes region gathered in Uganda.

According to James Mugume,
permanent secretary at the host nation's foreign ministry, Uganda's
president called the regional summit in an attempt "to stop the fighting
and get back [to] the negotiating table."

The UN special envoy to the
Great Lakes region, Mary Robinson is visiting
the volatile eastern region of the DRC, as fighting between M23 rebels and
Congolese troops backed by UN forces continues. (03.09.2013)

The Democratic Republic of
Congo has been battling an insurgency for almost a year and a half. Allegations
that Rwanda, and to some
extent Uganda,
have been backing the M23 rebel fighters have further exacerbated tensions.
Both nations fiercely deny the claims.

The M23 rebels, primarily
made up of Tutsi soldiers who mutinied in April 2012, advanced past hundreds of
UN peacekeeping troops in November last year to invade Goma, the capital of
North Kivu province.

Congolese troops, backed by
a special United Nations force, have since reclaimed the eastern city. A fresh
offensive launched late last month saw them force the rebels from surrounding
positions.

M23 declared a unilateral
ceasefire last week, saying they were willing to "give peace a
chance." However, government spokesperson Lambert Mende told news agency
Reuters they must disarm and become a political party in order to expect
cooperation with the Congolese government.

In attendance at Thursday's
meeting, held at a luxury lakeside resort outside Kampala, was United Nations special envoy
Mary Robinson. During a tour of areas struck by the fighting the former
president of Ireland
warned called on M23 fighters to bring an end to violence.

They "must cease
violence [and] must disarm as the UN Security Council demanded," Robinson
said on Monday.

Talks between the M23 and
the DRC broke down in May. Assurances that they would resume are yet to
materialize.