Post date: Dec 12, 2013 11:47:33 PM
The Democratic Republic of Congo's President Joseph Kabila signs a peace deal with the M23 rebel movement that his forces defeated last month.
NAIROBI, KENYA (DECEMBER 12, 2013) (PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE) - The Congolese government signed a peace deal on Thursday (December 12) with the M23 rebels it had been fighting until they laid down their arms last month.
The deal was signed by President Joseph Kabila in the presence of regional leaders in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, after he attended Kenya's 50th independence anniversary.M23 are the latest incarnation of Tutsi-led insurgents who have battled Congo's government in its mineral-rich eastern regions for more than two decades.
The M23 took up arms in eastern DR Congo in April 2012, accusing the government of marginalising the ethnic Tutsi minority and failing to honour previous agreements.
Congo government spokesman Lambert Mende said three documents were signed at the State House in Nairobi and their provisions include a reiteration of the dissolution of M23 as an armed group.
Other provisions include details of demobilisation and a renunciation of violence as a means of pursuing future claims, he said.