Angolan President João Lourenço on Tuesday hosted his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi in the latest discussions on taming the violence in eastern parts of Congo.
The Angolan leader, now in a new role as chair of the African Union, has in the past been closely involved in an effort to bring lasting solutions to the instability in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have fought against the Congolese army in a war based on certain grievances.
Angola is still the mediator designated by the African Union for the conflict in the east of the DRC although President Lourenço had said his new role as AU Chair means he may pass the baton to another person.
Yet Angola has remained a confidant for Tshisekedi who has met President Lourenco three times in a month.
In essence, it was a diplomatic meeting in the context of recent events both on the ground (accelerated deterioration of the security situation in the east of the DRC) and on the political-diplomatic level, including last Friday’s meeting of the Peace and Security Council in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Téte António, the Angolan foreign affairs minister told journalists in Luanda that the recent assessment of the evolving security situation in eastern Democratic Congo in Addis Ababa raised the question of what steps should be taken following the findings.
In the eastern part of the DRC, military action has intensified in recent weeks, with M23 forces taking more and more territory, the most critical case being the occupation of the city of Goma, capital of North Kivu province and the country’s largest city of Bukavu.
