Hopes for a peace deal and a relaxed Christmas for the residents in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), were dashed December 15, after President Paul Kagame was a no-show in Luanda, the capital of chief mediator Angola.
The agreement was expected to anchor a fragile ceasefire that has been holding between the Congolese armed forces, FARDC, and the rebel M23 that has overrun tracts of territory in the east of the country.
