{{Talks to end a two-year insurgency in eastern Congo stalled on Monday after the government rejected a call for amnesty for M23 rebel leaders as the United Nations expressed concern at a military buildup by the group around the provincial capital Goma.}}
Congolese President Joseph Kabila’s government and the M23 rebels had agreed on two-thirds of a draft deal during recent talks in neighboring Uganda, U.N. special envoy to the Great Lakes region, Mary Robinson, told the U.N. Security Council.
“However, the parties found it difficult to agree on certain contentious and difficult issues that had remained problematic throughout the talks, namely the amnesty, disarmament and integration of M23,” Robinson told the 15-member council.
“They have agreed to reconvene soon in order to overcome their differences,” she said via video link from Addis Ababa.
During closed-door Security Council consultations after her public briefing, several diplomats said Robinson told them that Rwandan President Paul Kagame had conveyed a personal message to the M23 delegation to encourage them to reach a compromise.
U.N. experts have repeatedly accused Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s neighbour to the east, of supporting the M23 rebellion, a charge Kigali has robustly denied.
Robinson visited Kagame in Kigali on Friday with envoys from the United States, the European Union and the African Union.
“The president believed that while the M23 was not Rwanda’s issue, a peace agreement between the rebel group and the government of the DRC would benefit the entire region,” she told the Security Council during her public briefing.
The Congolese government said it strongly opposed a blanket pardon for the commanders of the Tutsi-led rebellion and against reintegrating their fighters into the national army.
M23 accused the government delegation of refusing to cooperate with its chief negotiator and of seeking a return to hostilities.
Martin Kobler, head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo known as MONUSCO, told the Security Council that in recent days “we have observed considerable military build-up on both sides of the front line.”
“At the same time M23 has fired twice at unarmed U.N. helicopters and has strengthened offensive positions threatening U.N. peacekeepers,” he said. “Information gathered indicates the M23 has also strengthened its frontline in the south near Goma.”
M23 briefly captured Goma in November, then withdrew to pave the way for peace talks in the Ugandan capital Kampala.
NV
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