Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has agreed to meet with his Democratic Republic of the Congo counterpart Felix Tshisekedi to discuss the ongoing crisis in eastern Congo, the Angolan government has said.

The agreement followed a meeting on Monday in Angola’s capital Luanda between Mr Kagame and Angolan President João Lourenço, the African Union’s (AU) mediator in the DR Congo crisis.

“It was decided that President Kagame would agree to meet President Tshisekedi on a date to be indicated by the mediator,” Angola’s Foreign Minister Tete Antonio told the press after the meeting.

Mr Antonio said that both Rwanda and the DR Congo had agreed to hold the meeting, with ministerial delegations from both sides working toward the plan.

Rwanda’s presidency said on X that the two leaders “agreed on key steps towards addressing the root causes of the conflict”.

President Kagame’s trip to Angola follows a similar visit by Mr Tshisekedi to Luanda last month, during which it was announced that the DR Congo leader had agreed to meet with his Rwandan counterpart.

But Mr Tshisekedi demanded the withdrawal of Rwandan troops from the Congolese territory before meeting President Kagame, the DR Congo presidency said.

Fighting between M23 rebels and Congolese forces has flared in the DR Congo’s east, displacing more than 100,000 people in recent weeks, according to the UN.

DR Congo has accused Rwanda of backing M23 rebels, an accusation that Kigali denies.

What’s happening in Eastern Congo

Aid organizations fear a new humanitarian crisis in the restive eastern Congo region, where the renowned armed rebel group M23 is in the midst of a new advance that threatens to cut off a major city and leave millions of people struggling for food and medical help.

Eastern Congo has been beset by conflict for years, with M23 among more than 100 armed groups vying for a foothold in the mineral-rich area near the border with Rwanda. Some have been accused of carrying out mass killings.

There’s been an upsurge in fighting in recent weeks between M23 rebels and Congo army forces, and it comes as the United Nations plans to withdraw peacekeepers from the region by the end of the year.

Tensions are also rising between Congo and Rwanda, with them blaming each other for supporting various armed groups. Congo accuses Rwanda of backing M23.

WHO ARE M23?
The March 23 Movement, or M23, is a rebel military group mainly made up of ethnic Tutsis that broke away from the Congolese army just over a decade ago. They staged a large offensive in 2012 and took over the provincial capital of Goma near the border with Rwanda, the same city they are threatening again.

The conflict has regional complications, with neighboring Rwanda also accused by the U.S. and U.N. experts of giving military aid to M23. Rwanda denies that but effectively admitted on Monday that it has troops and missile systems in eastern Congo. Rwanda said that is to safeguard its own security because of what it claims is a buildup of Congo army forces near the border. Rwanda has rejected calls from the U.S. to withdraw.

There are also ties to the Rwandan genocide of 30 years ago, with M23 and Rwanda saying separately that they are fighting a threat from a Congolese rebel group that is connected to the Congo army and partly made up of ethnic Hutus who were perpetrators of the 1994 genocide.

CONGO-RWANDA TENSIONS

Relations between Congo and its eastern neighbor have been fraught for decades. Hundreds of thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees had fled to Congo, then Zaire, in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Among them were soldiers and militiamen responsible for the slaughter of 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Two years after the genocide, Rwanda and Uganda invaded eastern Congo to try and root out what remained of those genocide perpetrators, which led to the toppling of then Congo President Mobutu Sese Seko.

Tensions between Congo and Rwanda escalated in 2021 with the resurgence of M23 attacks on Congolese soldiers after nearly a decade of relative inactivity due to a 2013 peace deal. The presence of so many armed groups is believed to be connected to illegal mining, with eastern Congo rich in gold and other minerals.

WHAT’S HAPPENED IN RECENT WEEKS?
M23 launched new attacks late last year and has ramped them up in recent weeks. The group is now threatening to take the key town of Sake, about 27 kilometers (16 miles) west of Goma. That could cause food and aid supplies to be cut off from Goma, which had a population of around 600,000 a few years ago, but now holds more than 2 million people, according to aid agencies, as people flee violence in surrounding towns and villages.
The advance of rebels on Sake “poses an imminent threat to the entire aid system” in eastern Congo, the Norwegian Refugee Council said. It said 135,000 people were displaced in just five days in early February.

The violence has also sparked protests from the capital, Kinshasa, to Goma, with angry demonstrators saying the international community is not doing enough to push back against M23 and not taking a hard enough stance against Rwanda.

WHAT’S AT STAKE?
The new fighting could lead to an escalation of regional tensions and involve more countries. As the U.N. winds down its 25-year peacekeeping mission in eastern Congo, a multi-national force under the southern African regional bloc is set to step in. That force will include soldiers from regional power South Africa, Malawi and Tanzania. They will help the Congo army forces, but it might put them in direct conflict with Rwanda.

Source: BBC,AP News

Zambia United Local Authority Workers Union (ZULAWU) Luanshya branch chairman, Roy Sikazwe, has urged Zambian youth across the country not to allow themselves to be used as tools of political violence amidst the harsh economy that has hit Zambia.

Speaking in an interview in Luanshya, Mr. Sikazwe said youths should instead remain focused and productive and fight poverty in the country.

“Youths should not allow themselves to be used as tools of political violence amidst the prevailing harsh economy. Youths should work hard to better their lives and meaningfully contribute towards the fight against poverty in the country,” Mr. Sikazwe noted.

He observed that it is unfortunate that some youths were using the excuse of the high unemployment levels in the country to engage in illicit activities such as excessive beer drinking.

The trade unionist further admonished youths to abstain from such activities, saying that they would just make them unhealthy and unproductive.

Meanwhile, a youth activist, Allan Zulu, called on the government to support youths in the country to be productive.

“Although the government has introduced education bursaries through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), some youths in the compounds don’t know how to apply for such bursaries. There is a need to intensify the flow of information so that more youths can access the funds,” he said.

He further urged his fellow youths to take advantage of the skills training centers that the government has set up in various parts of the country to acquire skills in order for them to remain relevant to the development of the country.

“As youths, we must not just be complaining about the biting economy but let us stand up and do something towards the economic development of the country,” he said.

Zambia Wake-Up Party (ZAWAPA) President Howard Kunda has urged the Government to import electricity in order to mitigate the impact of the power deficit amid the planned prolonged hours of load shedding.

Power utility Zesco Limited has announced eight-hours of load shedding starting on March 11 owing to the inconsistent rainfall pattern experienced during the 2023/2024 rainy season.

Speaking to Radio Icengelo News in Ndola, Mr. Kunda said the planned long hours of Zesco power load shedding will destroy medium and small scale businesses and impact negatively on the national economy.

The immediate past Muchinga Member of Parliament said the Government should use taxpayers money to subsidise electricity.

“This issue of load shedding will affect us badly as a nation because all the entrepreneurs who have barbershops, hair salons, welding shops will be deprived of eight hours of production. Surely where are we going if entrepreneurs cannot be productive for eight (8) hours? The Government must import power,” Mr. Kunda said.

“During the PF regime we had two hours or four hours of load shedding utmost but now load shedding is starting at 8 hours. We say no to eight hours of load shedding. Let the Government import power using taxpayer’s money, let people’s money work. The tax people pay is not for Government officials to enrich themselves. We want the Government to give service to the people and that service is about importing power to cushion the people of Zambia so that productivity continues. Load shedding will worsen the hunger situation in the country,” he said.

The former Parliamentary Public Accounts committee Chairperson noted that globally Governments provide subsidies to their people.

“Let’s have a heart for the people. Countries all over the world provide subsidies on things like electricity and fuel. Even powerful nations such as America or the UK subsidise things that matter. We are destroying our economy by not having reasonable priced elements in the energy sector. We should not be following IMF requirements blindly. Let’s use local solutions and local resources to better our country,” Mr. Kunda concluded.