Angola will withdraw from its role as mediator in the escalating conflict in eastern Congo, its presidency announced Monday. Another African nation is expected to take over efforts to revive peace talks.
The Tutsi-led M23 rebel group has intensified its insurgency this year, capturing eastern Congo’s two largest cities since January and advancing into resource-rich territories containing gold and tantalum.
Angolan President João Lourenço, who currently chairs the African Union, had been working to ease tensions between Congo and Rwanda, which Kinshasa accuses of backing M23—a charge Kigali denies.
A planned meeting last week in Luanda, where Congo and M23 were set for their first direct talks, collapsed after M23 withdrew following European Union sanctions against the group and Rwandan officials.
“Angola considers the need to free itself from the responsibility of mediator” to focus on broader AU priorities, the presidency said, citing the “aborted” Luanda talks. A new mediator will be appointed in the coming days.
Efforts to resolve the long-running crisis—including ceasefires, sanctions, and regional summits—have repeatedly failed. The conflict is rooted in the aftermath of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and competition for eastern Congo’s vast mineral wealth.
A regional summit co-chaired by Kenyan President William Ruto and Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa is set for Monday to address the crisis.
Meanwhile, M23 last week rejected calls for an immediate ceasefire but reiterated its demand for direct negotiations with Kinshasa. Over the weekend, the group announced plans to withdraw from the town of Walikale as a gesture of goodwill. Congo’s army responded by pledging to halt offensives to encourage de-escalation, though local sources reported M23 forces were still present in Walikale on Monday.
