DR Congo and M23 rebel group sign a framework agreement for a peace deal in Qatar

The Democratic Republic of Congo and the Rwanda-backed M23 paramilitary group signed a new framework for peace on Saturday at a ceremony in Qatar aimed at ending fighting that has devastated eastern DR Congo.

Qatar, along with the United States and the African Union, has been engaged in months of back-and-forth talks aimed at ending the conflict in DR Congo's mineral-rich east, where the M23 has captured key cities.

DR Congo and M23 inked a ceasefire deal and an earlier framework in the Gulf emirate in July, but despite the agreement reports emerged of violations, with both sides accused of breaking the truce.

The signing of the new deal, the Doha Framework for a Comprehensive Peace Agreement, was completed at a ceremony attended by officials from the warring parties, the US and Qatar.

One of many steps that lie ahead

US and Qatari officials described the framework as an important step to peace but one of many that lie ahead. 

The top US envoy to the region, Massad Boulos, said the framework covered eight protocols, and that work still needed to be done to agree on how to implement six of them.

Boulos also acknowledged that implementing the first two protocols concerning the exchange of prisoners and the monitoring of a ceasefire, agreed in recent months, had been slow.

“Yes, they were a little bit slow in the first few weeks,” he told reporters after the signing. “Yes, people were expecting to see probably some immediate results on the ground, but this is a process... This is not a light switch that you just switch on and off.”

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Thousands killed and displaced

Since taking up arms again at the end of 2021, the M23 armed group has seized swathes of land in eastern DR Congo with Rwanda's backing, triggering a spiralling humanitarian crisis.

Thousands were killed in a lightning offensive by the M23 in January and February, in which the group seized the key provincial capitals of Goma and Bukavu.

The fighting has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more this year, while escalating the risk of a full-scale regional war.

The July deal signed in Doha followed an earlier, separate peace agreement between the Congolese and Rwandan governments inked in Washington in June.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)