Members of parliament from the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) conflict-torn North Kivu province have asked President Felix Tshisekedi to take the M23 rebel organisation into consideration.
The MPs stated in an open letter that a peaceful resolution would de-escalate the ongoing crisis in eastern DR Congo, which has caused hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes in the previous year.
The legislators have urged that they be included in peace measures that aim to end the regional security problem. They want the closed routes and humanitarian corridors in war zones to be unblocked.
The M23 has been capturing towns and villages in recent weeks as they try to make their way closer to Goma, the regional capital.
On Tuesday, the group was supposed to start withdrawing from the locations they had taken during recent offensives for a month. It’s unclear if the rebels followed the retreat strategy.
For the majority of February, the M23 and government forces have been engaged in fierce combat.
M23 is allegedly supported by Rwanda, a claim that is refuted by Kigali, according to a UN panel of experts.