[AFRICANEWS] Kenyan President William Ruto and his Angolan counterpart Joao Lourenco have called on the M23 rebels fighting government forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
 ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo , which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material...
(DRC), to join a military garrison
The two men were speaking at a presser in Nairobi following talks during a two-day state visit by Lourenco to Kenya.
"Jointly we have made good progress but we have become stagnant on one item. We need to have the M23 cantonment carried out," said Lourenco.
The two leaders said that if the M23 militia were to join a military garrison, it would facilitate achieving peace in the eastern part of the DRC.
The Rwanda-backed rebels launched an offensive in the region in late 2021, defeating the Congolese army and capturing swathes of North Kivu, driving over one million people from their homes.
The eastern part of the DRC has been plagued by violence from local and foreign gangs for nearly 30 years.
"We believe that it is an achievable aim to engage in consultation, stabilise the eastern part of the DRC, and allow the people of the country in general, to benefit from their progress, from their development, and from stability and progress in their region," said Ruto.
During the talks, the two men also said they would push for the resumption of direct flights between Nairobi and Luanda as part of efforts to spur bilateral trade between their countries.
Ruto said Kenya-Angola trade has been on the rise in the past four years, but said more needs to be done to unlock the potential.
They also announced the activation of a visa-free regime to ease the free movement of people and facilitate a wider interaction of diverse ideas, resources, and businesses.
In addition, Kenya pledged to support Angola’s candidature for membership in the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
Peace and Security Council, and 11 legal instruments were signed.
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