The ultimatum came from the first ever joint mini summit between the East African Community and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) in Luanda, specifically seeking to tackling the Congo crisis. Withdraw from captured areasAfter the meeting chaired by President João Lourenço, the African Union's appointed mediator, the leaders urged the M23 to “to cease fire and withdraw from captured territories”. The Angolan leader has been leading what is called the Luanda track, meant to iron out differences between Rwanda and DRC, which accuses Kigali of supporting M23 rebels. And it came as fighting between M23 rebels and the FARDC (Congolese army) intensified in North Kivu in the east of the country. But in a statement, the rebels accused the Congolese government of "totally ignoring the calls of the international community for dialogue through daily attacks”.

Source: Daily Nation November 24, 2022 13:55 UTC