An African Union (AU) delegation that met Rwanda-backed rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has called for continued engagement in the peace process, as fighting continues despite ongoing \u200cmediation efforts.<\/p>\n
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The delegation, which includes three former Presidents, Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta, Ethiopia’s Sahle-Work Zewde and Botswana’s Mokgweetsi Masisi, met leaders of the AFC\/M23 rebel group on Monday, the AU said in a statement this Wednesday.<\/p>\n
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The rebels control \u2060large areas of North and South Kivu provinces captured during a lightning offensive last year.<\/p>\n
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DRC’s government and AFC\/M23 signed a declaration in Doha in July 2025, committing to a permanent ceasefire and negotiations towards a broader peace agreement.<\/p>\n
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The process has yielded limited progress, including the release of detainees in August and the recent deployment of teams responsible for observing implementation of the ceasefire.<\/p>\n
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Yet fighting \u200chas \u2060continued, with recent clashes concentrated in remote parts of South Kivu’s highlands and North Kivu’s Masisi territory.<\/p>\n
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Parallel mediation efforts involving DRC and Rwanda have also been led by the United States and the \u2060AU but have so far brought little change on the ground.<\/p>\n
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The delegation called for respect of commitments made in Doha, adherence to \u2060the ceasefire and co-operation with verification mechanisms.<\/p>\n
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It also stressed the need to protect civilians and ensure safe humanitarian access.<\/p>\n
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The delegation \u2060met with Rwanda’s Foreign Minister on Tuesday and is expected in Kinshasa for consultations with the Congolese government.<\/p>\n
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–Reuters–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":47539,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-47538","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"AU delegation that met Rwanda-backed rebels in eastern DRC has called for continued engagement in the peace process","published_date":"2026-10-07 18:34:23","news_description":"AU delegation that met Rwanda-backed rebels in eastern DRC has called for continued engagement in the peace process","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47540,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47538\/revisions\/47540"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=47538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}