Luanda - The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Félix Tshisekedi, said Tuesday in Luanda that he would accept a meeting with his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, to resolve the prevailing situation of instability in the east of the DRC.
The information was disclosed by the Angolan Foreign Minister, Teté António, at the end of a meeting between the Presidents of Angola, João Lourenço, and the DRC, Félix Tshisekedi.
According to the minister, President João Lourenço met with his DRC counterpart as the mediator appointed by the African Union (AU) to deal with the situation in the east of the DRC.
Teté António said that Angola has been given the task of taking the subsequent "steps" to hold the meeting, without any reference to dates.
João Lourenço met separately with Félix Tshissekedi and Paul Kagame on the sidelines of the 37th AU Summit held in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), considering that there has been a setback in the pacification process in the east of the DRC marked by the return of conflicts.
João Lourenço's mediation between the DRC and Rwanda resulted in the adoption of the Roadmap for the Pacification of the Eastern Region of the DRC, an agreement known as the "Luanda Roadmap".
Political-diplomatic consultations between João Lourenço and Tshisekedi have been regular, mainly on issues relating to bilateral cooperation, pacification of the eastern DRC and defusing the climate of tension with Rwanda, which is accused of supporting Congolese rebel groups.
The DRC shares a border with Angola to the south and west, stretching some 2,500 kilometres. The neighbouring country has an exit to the Atlantic Ocean between the Angolan provinces of Cabinda and Zaire, and is also linked to Angola via the Benguela Railway.
Angola and the DRC share oil exploration at the mouth of the Zaire River and cooperate in the defense and security sectors.
Bilateral cooperation between Angola and the DRC has its legal framework based on the General Agreement for Economic, Scientific-Technical and Cultural Cooperation, signed on October 17,1978, following the official visit to the then Republic of Zaire by Angola's first President, António Agostinho Neto.
Since then, various legal instruments and bilateral agreements have been signed regulating relations and cooperation between the two countries in different sectors, such as road, rail, air, sea and river transport, science and technology, trade, among others.
Independent from Belgium since June 30, 1960, the DRC covers an area of 2,344,858 square kilometers and has an estimated population of 94.6 million inhabitants, according to World Bank figures disclosed in 2022. JFS/MCN/TED/AMP
