NAIROBI - M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have reiterated their call for a meeting with former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta and have vowed to continue to respect a two-week-old ceasefire.
Kenyatta is the East African Community (EAC) facilitator in the Nairobi-led peace talks that are aimed at ending hostilities in the eastern parts of the DRC. In the middle of the year, M23 revived fighting against the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), the government's army.
Last month, they covered considerable ground in their threat to capture Goma, the capital of North Kivu, pushing the EAC regional forces to be dispatched in anticipation of a fully-fledged war.
However, regional leaders such as Évariste Ndayishimiye, the president of Burundi, in his role as chairperson of the EAC, launched the EAC-led Nairobi Process on the restoration of peace and security.
However, M23, designated as a terrorist group by the DRC, the United States and the United Nations, was not part of the process that discussed their role in instability, among other militia groups, in eastern DRC. M23 wants to be included in the talks.
In a statement, political spokesperson of M23, Lawrence Kanyuka, said the outfit "renews its request for a meeting with the mediator and facilitator in a way to discuss the matter of its concerns".
When around 300 soldiers, mostly former Defence of the People (CNDP) members, rebelled against the DRC government on 4 April 2012, they founded M23. They did so because of the army's alleged subpar working conditions and the government's refusal to carry out the 23 March 2009 peace agreement.
While they took up arms again this year, they claimed the government was violating the 2009 peace agreement that was signed during former president Joseph Kabila's tenure.
M23 wants to meet current DRC President Felix Tshisekedi to solve the crisis.
"The M23 reiterates its readiness to the direct dialogue with the DRC government in order to find a lasting solution to the root causes of the conflict in the eastern DRC," said Kanyuka.
DR Congo's government will hold its next round of peace talks with rebels under the aegis of the East African Community in January in the eastern DRC, the seven-nation bloc has announced.
