(Reuters) -Democratic Republic of Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi used a speech to an investment forum in Brussels on Thursday to publicly appeal to his Rwandan counterpart to help end an insurgency by M23 rebels, though Kigali accused him posturing.
Mediation efforts by the U.S. and Qatar to end the conflict have encountered setbacks and fighting continues in eastern Congo, where thousands have been killed this year and hundreds of thousands displaced.
“It is not too late to do things right,” Tshisekedi said during the Global Gateway Forum in Brussels.
“I take this forum as a witness to extend my hand to you, Mr. President, so that we can make peace between brave men,” he said, directly addressing Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who was present at the event.
Tshisekedi also said Rwanda needed to tell M23 to stop its military escalation in order to make peace.
M23 staged a lightning offensive this year and now holds more territory than ever in eastern Congo.
Rwanda has long denied backing M23 and says its forces act in self-defence. But a group of U.N. experts said in a report in July that Kigali exercised command and control over the rebels.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said he wants to bring peace to the region, which has experienced persistent conflict rooted in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, and facilitate investments in its minerals sector.
Congo and Rwanda signed a peace deal in Washington in June, while Congo and M23 have participated in multiple rounds of direct talks hosted by Doha.
Last month, the U.S. State Department said there were delays in implementation of some elements of the peace agreement.
Congo and Rwanda were expected last week to sign an economic framework, but sources familiar with the matter told Reuters Kinshasa was unwilling to initial the agreement.
Rwandan officials rejected Tshisekedi’s appeal on Thursday and blamed Kinshasa for stoking tensions.
“The only one who can stop this escalation is President Tshisekedi and HE ALONE,” Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said on X, accusing the Congolese leader of belligerent rhetoric towards Kigali.
Rwanda’s presidential press secretary, Stephanie Nyombayire, said on X that Tshisekedi had used a Brussels stage to cast himself as a peacemaker while “claiming victimhood of the very conflict he caused and has refused to resolve.”
(Reporting by Congo newsroom; Writing by Ayen Deng Bior; Editing by Anait Miridzhanian, Robbie Corey-Boulet and Paul Simao)
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