The AFC/M23 coalition fighting the Democratic Republic of Congo government has announced that the issue between the two sides will be resolved in talks in Doha, Qatar, instead of in the United States.
This was announced by the Deputy Spokesperson of the AFC/M23, Dr. Oscar Balinda, in an interview with Radio Agasaro Kaburaga, after Rwanda and the DRC signed a peace agreement on December 4, 2025, with the assistance of the United States.
Dr. Balinda announced that the AFC/M23 values the agreement because it contains some provisions that meet its demands, which are to destroy the FDLR terrorist group while resisting the repatriation of Congolese refugees living in Rwanda.
He said, however, that this agreement cannot stop the fighting in eastern DRC, because the Rwandan government is not the one that has been fighting the DRC in this four-year war.
He said, “The opponents on the battlefield are the Kinshasa regime, the Tshisekedi dictatorship and his government, and the AFC/M23. We are the opponents on the battlefield. Our problem is in Doha. I tell you clearly that Washington’s concerns are their own. There is no war between them.”
The DRC government forces have been battling the AFC/M23 in various parts of South Kivu province for four days. On the day the agreement was signed and on December 5, attacks continued.
Lawrence Kanyuka, a spokesman for the AFC/M23, announced that the attacks by the DRC forces, which include Congolese, Burundian and Wazalendo soldiers, in areas including Kamanyola, Katogota and Luvungi, killed 23 people and could increase, and injured many more.
The fighting intensified when both sides, with the support of the Qatari government, had agreed to a ceasefire so that talks on a lasting peace could take place in a more conducive atmosphere.
