The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ambassador Olivier Nduhungirehe, has dismissed the resolutions made by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) regarding the conflicts in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
On November 15, 2025, a summit of ICGLR Heads of State was held in Kinshasa, DRC, during which President Félix Tshisekedi was granted the mandate to lead the organization.
According to Floribert Anzuluni, the DRC Minister in charge of Regional Integration, ICGLR leaders condemned the actions of the M23 armed group and called on “the aggressor country to withdraw its troops from the DRC.”
Minister Nduhungirehe responded, saying:
“The resolutions of the ICGLR meeting held in Kinshasa last week, in the absence of Rwanda, during which Tshisekedi was elected as the new chair of the organization headquartered in Bujumbura, are completely irrelevant to the issues surrounding the conflicts in eastern DRC.”
He explained that the talks involving Rwanda and the DRC in the United States, as well as those between the DRC government and the AFC/M23 coalition in Doha, Qatar, are the ones capable of genuinely contributing to resolving the conflict.
He said:
“For that reason, only the Washington and Doha peace processes, both supported by the African Union, are genuinely working toward a lasting solution to the conflicts in eastern DRC.”
The ICGLR Heads of State summit took place at a time when the Washington and Doha negotiations continue to yield promising outcomes, raising hope that durable peace may soon be achieved in eastern DRC.
On November 7, Rwanda and the DRC signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement in the economic sector, and on November 15, the DRC government and AFC/M23 signed foundational principles expected to guide their path toward lasting peace.
